- 8
Spyros Papaloukas
Estimate
60,000 - 80,000 GBP
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Description
- Spyros Papaloukas
- Kavsokalyvia, Mount Athos
- indistinctly signed and dated lower right
- oil on board
- 46.5 by 41.5cm., 18¼ by 16¼in.
Provenance
Sale: Stavros Mihalarias Art, Athens, 6 June 1988, lot 61
Private Collection, Athens
Private Collection, Athens
Literature
Markos Kambanis, Agrotiki Pinakothiki, Spyros Papaloukas, Mount Athos, 2003, no. 116, catalogued & illustrated
Catalogue Note
The Holy site of Kavsokalyvia is one of the most distant and remote on Mount Athos. It is built on exceptionally rugged terrain, surmounting a single rock on a cliff overlooking the sea.
The present work is a rich example of Papaloukas' finest works from his Mount Athos period. Having initially trained as an apprentice to an icon painter, Papaloukas travelled to Mount Athos with his room-mate in Paris, the artist Fotis Kontoglou, in 1923. The aim of Papaloukas' trip into the wilds of nature was to recover from his experiences as a war artist in the Greek army during the Asia Minor campaign, to further his studies of Byzantine iconography, and to paint the local scenery.
Papaloukas' profound appreciation and reverence for the beauty of the Greek countryside started at a young age, the artist himself stating: 'Ever since I was a small boy in my village, I explored my homeland inch by inch. I strolled the hills and vales, wandered along the paths, over the mountains with their gorges and streams, with their snows and rainfalls' (quoted by Marina Lambraki-Plaka, 'The Painting of Paploukas: A Spiritual Adventure', Spyros Papaloukas, Athens, 2007, p. 11).
The traumatic experience of the Asia Minor Campaign had created a need for national self-affirmation in Greece, which was expressed in literature and the visual arts through a turn to tradition. A member of the Generation of the Thirties, Papaloukas was no exception, and sought comfort in a return to the Byzantine tradition while striving to combine it with contemporary ideas on painting. Following Papaloukas' return from his four-year stay in Paris in 1921, the artist focused on painting the landscape and people of his homeland, incorporating the maxims and elements of the aesthetic of the Cubists, Impressionists, Nabis and Fauves.
The present work is a rich example of Papaloukas' finest works from his Mount Athos period. Having initially trained as an apprentice to an icon painter, Papaloukas travelled to Mount Athos with his room-mate in Paris, the artist Fotis Kontoglou, in 1923. The aim of Papaloukas' trip into the wilds of nature was to recover from his experiences as a war artist in the Greek army during the Asia Minor campaign, to further his studies of Byzantine iconography, and to paint the local scenery.
Papaloukas' profound appreciation and reverence for the beauty of the Greek countryside started at a young age, the artist himself stating: 'Ever since I was a small boy in my village, I explored my homeland inch by inch. I strolled the hills and vales, wandered along the paths, over the mountains with their gorges and streams, with their snows and rainfalls' (quoted by Marina Lambraki-Plaka, 'The Painting of Paploukas: A Spiritual Adventure', Spyros Papaloukas, Athens, 2007, p. 11).
The traumatic experience of the Asia Minor Campaign had created a need for national self-affirmation in Greece, which was expressed in literature and the visual arts through a turn to tradition. A member of the Generation of the Thirties, Papaloukas was no exception, and sought comfort in a return to the Byzantine tradition while striving to combine it with contemporary ideas on painting. Following Papaloukas' return from his four-year stay in Paris in 1921, the artist focused on painting the landscape and people of his homeland, incorporating the maxims and elements of the aesthetic of the Cubists, Impressionists, Nabis and Fauves.