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Lot 87
Constantinos Maleas(Greek, 1879-1928)Plage
22 November 2023, 12:00 CET
Paris, Avenue Hoche€20,000 - €30,000
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Athens - Art Expertise
Constantinos Maleas (Greek, 1879-1928)
Plage
signé 'Maleas' (en bas à gauche)
huile sur carton
32.5 x 42cm (12 13/16 x 16 9/16in).
Peint aussi au revers et inscrit indistinctement.
Peint vers 1908-1913.
signed (lower left)
oil on card
Also painted on the reverse and indistinctly inscribed.
signé 'Maleas' (en bas à gauche)
huile sur carton
32.5 x 42cm (12 13/16 x 16 9/16in).
Peint aussi au revers et inscrit indistinctement.
Peint vers 1908-1913.
signed (lower left)
oil on card
Also painted on the reverse and indistinctly inscribed.
Footnotes
Provenance
Private collection, Mytilene.
Private collection, Athens.
Expositions
Mytilene, Mytilene High School, July 1923.
Littérature
A. Kotidis, The Painter C. Maleas (1879-1928), doctoral dissertation, Thessaloniki 1982, pp. 77-78 (discussed), p. 250, no. 62 (catalogued), fig. 3.1 (illustrated).
A. Kotidis, Constantinos Maleas (1879-1928), Adam editions, Athens 2000, p. 280 (mentioned), p. 329, no. 85 (catalogued), p. 271, fig. 222 (illustrated).
Relying on purely painterly means rather than resorting to the picturesque, Maleas conveyed his emotional response to the landscape, translating a coastal view into a powerful visual language. Setting his easel outdoors, he was able to retain the freshness of execution and fidelity to nature's effects, aiming to investigate pictorial issues rather than record a specific location. He worked quickly and in full control of his medium, his brushstrokes verging on automatic physical responses to optical stimuli. Ηis primary concern was to render the atmosphere and character of the landscape, in an evocative manner that would convey the momentary elusiveness of an impression. Our eye follows the darting movements of his brush, as successive touches of colour are seized upon and added to the picture surface. His artistry creates a dynamic tension between nature and abstraction, between surface pattern and depth, which is akin to the achievements of Monet. The final outcome is a poetic statement of intense rhythm and explosive energy, while the interplay of cool and warm tonalities charge the entire composition with a dream-like feel.