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 Bonhams will sell a wealth of Greek art in an annual sale devoted to the subject in London on Tuesday 16 December. Rare portraits highlight the sale, which has built an international following in the years since it was introduced.
A rare portrait by Dimitrios Galanis showing the ballerina Mademoiselle Schwartz leads The Greek Sale at Bonhams’ in London on Tuesday 16 December 2003. On offer are almost 150 lots of paintings from the 19th and 20th centuries by Greek artists whose work is becoming increasingly sought after by collectors, both expatriates and those living in Greece.
A great innovator of Greek engraving, Dimitrios Galanis (1879-1966) moved to Paris in the 1900s and became a naturalised Frenchman remaining there until his death. He made the personal acquaintance of Derain, Maillol and Matisse and even though Galanis exhibited with his contemporaries the Fauves and Cubists, and participated actively in the artistic life of the French capital, he never adhered to any particular movement. Instead, he distilled the various influences into a visual idiom entirely his own. Galanis reveals his personal style through a muted palette and simplified forms. Rarely did he paint portraits.
In the present painting from 1920, the elegant ballerina in her white costume and shiny pink satin slippers occupies the frontal plane while around her are references to her life on the stage: the piano, the musical score, the edge of the curtain. La Danseuse/ Portrait de mademoiselle Schwartz de l’ Opéra, signed and dated 'D. Galanis /1920' (lower right)
an oil on canvas 151 x 110 cm. (59 1/4 x 45 1/8 in.) is estimated at £120,000-180,000.
Another rare portrait in the sale is a captivating work by Nikolaos Gysis (1842-1901) which reveals for the first time the artist’s fascination with the zeybek, the irregular soldiers serving the Ottoman Empire having been recruited in Asia Minor from Greek populations of Thracian origin.
Gysis visited Asia Minor for three months in 1873 to observe and study the local inhabitants and to paint what he saw. To commemorate the journey, he purchased a zeybek’s garb in which he was photographed. However, the portrait in Bonhams’ sale was unknown until this rare gem was discovered. Impeccably drawn, wisely composed and displaying a limited yet powerful colour scheme dominated by Gysis’ signature red, The Zeybek depicts the impressive garb of the irregular soldier with the short, embroidered vest, wide sash around the waist holding pistols and ammunition, loose knee breeches and typical sandals. He also wears the characteristic headpiece of two fezzes, one on top of the other, bound by silk kerchiefs to form a turban.
Gysis studied at the School of Arts in Athens (1853–64) and at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich (1865-71), where he later became a professor (1882). Despite his great love for Greece and his desire to return there, he lived and worked in Munich, where many young Greek artists went to study with him. The oil on canvas signed with initials 'NG' 45.5 x 32.5 cm. (17 7/8 x 12 3/4 in.) is estimated at £80,000-120,000, while a second portrait by Gysis, an oil on canvas also signed with initials 'NG' 45.5 x 32.5 cm. (17 7/8 x 12 3/4 in.) is estimated at £80,000-120,000.
Painted in 1881, this portrait of a red-bearded man, possibly the artist Joseph Wenglein (1845-1919) who was a friend of Gysis, highlights the artist’s skill in rendering light and dark. Painted in warm, earthy colours the face is lit from the left, emphasising and bringing into relief the sitter’s features, while the hair and overcoat are left in shadow. This exploration of the interplay of light and shadow was to preoccupy the artist for most of his life. The limpid gaze of the sitter is characteristic of Gysis’ innate ability to convey the emotional world of the individuals depicted in his paintings.
Carrying the same estimate is Seated girl or Bild kleinen Maedchens by Georgios Bouzianis (1885-1959) an oil on canvas signed ‘Bouzianis’ upper right and also signed and titled in German on a label on the reverse 53 x 41 cm. (20 3/4 x 16 1/8 in.) A significant work by the leading Greek expressionist from his early Munich period (1906-1928), Seated Girl originally belonged to the collection of Heinrich Barchfeld, Bouzianis’ dealer and dear friend in Leipzig who played a key role in the artist’s development, being the first to “discover” his genius.
Akin to the spirit of the early 20th century German expressionist avant-garde movements “Blue Rider” and “Bridge”, the picture undertakes to “bridge” a portrait’s objective features with the artist’s subjective eye and emotional charge. Freed of any descriptive details, the painting becomes an active field of pulsating colour, unconventional design and intense brushwork, conveying something of the artist’s inner self rather than slavishly representing the world of appearances. Set against a gloomy, monochromatic background, the figure seems to have momentarily emerged from a dark and mysterious space, eager to grasp the essence of life.
Constantinos Parthenis (1878-1967) was a founder of 20th Century Greek painting. As a early member of the Omada Technis (Art Group) in 1917, together with Nicholaos Lytras and other pioneering artists, he sought to liberate Greek art from its rigid adherence to academic traditions. Three allegorical figures, an oil on canvas 47 x 47.5 cm. (18 1/2 x 18 5/8 in.) was acquired directly from the artist’s son, Nikolaos, and is estimated at £40,000-50,000 in Bonhams’ sale.
A master at drawing, Parthenis devoted much attention to preliminary sketches. In the present painting of three figures in a landscape, the emphasis on the linear element is strongly evident. The movements of the figures are defined by an order and balance that characterised his entire oeuvre. The striking shades of blue and yellow act as a foil to the otherwise subdued palette.
An extraordinary album of views of Greece by Miltiadis Thon (1875-1945) contains 135 charming watercolours with various depictions of landscapes and seascapes, 15 of which are signed. The views are dated from 1895 to 1937 and the 74 –page album, which was bound by the artist himself, has been in the artist’s family since his death.
Thon was a descendant of a wealthy and socially prominent family founded in Athens by Karl Christian Friedrich Thon, a Bavarian, who settled there in 1833 having arrived as a member of the Court of King Otto. His son, Nicholas, was in the Court of King George I and was a member of the Olympic Games Committee and had his portrait painted twice by the renowned Giorgios Jakobides.
Miltiadis Thon developed an interest in art at an early age. He studied with Nicholaos Gysis in Munich, where he remained until 1906, when he left for Italy before finally settling in Greece.
A highly personal and unique “picture gallery”, album consists of tranquil depictions of the natural environment of rural Greece and the outskirts of Athens; colourful images of the ancient monuments of Athens such as the Thisseion and the Lysicrates Monument; seascapes; views of Constantinople as well as vivid naval scenes depicting the Greek warship “Averoff”, the historic flagship of the Balkan Wars (1912-13), which is also pictured in one work with aeroplanes flying overhead. This unique panorama of watercolours captures a world in transition during the first four decades of the 20th Century and is estimated at £25,000-30,000.
The Greek Sale will be on view at the Epistrofi Gallery, 6-8 Taki Street, Psirri 10554 Athens, from Tuesday 2 December to Thursday 4 December and at Bonhams, 101 New Bond Street, London, from Thursday 11 December to Monday 15 December. The sale on Tuesday 16 December starts at 2pm.
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