Under the Hammer

Lot 2

Georgio Jakobides

Fille lisant un livre

Fille Lisant un livre by Georgios Jakobides was painted in 1931 when the artist was 79 years old, enjoying his role as a grandfather. Executed in a "non finito" style, Jakobides' expressive brushwork draws our attention to the artwork's illuminous colours and light, rather than detail. Like some of his later portraits, it shows a more intimate and personal style. The loose brushstrokes and focus on the sitter’s facial expression and posture invite us to participate in the artist’s act of observation and inspires feelings of familiarity and sympathy for the young sitter. For those familiar with Jakobides’ work, this painting is a little gem.

Lot 136

Yannis Gaitis

La mise en boîte

I really enjoy the humorous approach taken by Yannis Gaitis in La mise en boîte. In this work, his well-known motif of the “Anthropakia” figure is squashed into a fish tin like a sardine. The repetitive figures are a commentary on the course of a new post-war industrial world - a world of mass production and consumption, of anonymity and uniformity but also of isolation, apathy and existential anxiety. True to the artist’s signature style, the work was executed in 1971 as the first edition of seven. Gaitis was one of the first Greek artists to create multiples and editions of his artworks, meaning that they were more affordable. He had a high public profile and was one of the leading figures of Greek Pop Art.

Lot 124

George Lappas

Acrobate bleu

George Lappas was one of the first contemporary Greek artists to explore the relationship between sculpture and architecture, focusing on the role of the figure within space. Lot 124 is a great example of the artist’s oeuvre in its anthropocentric focus and aspiration to challenge notions of physics (balance, gravity) and man’s physical and intellectual limits. Taking an acrobat as his inspiration, Lappas sheds light on the nomadic lifestyle and incessant wandering that his subject ultimately aspires to.

Lappas’ enigmatic oeuvre is partly explained by his vast and diverse academic and work experiences. From 1969 to 1973, he studied Psychology in Oregon and worked as a volunteer in the state mental hospitals. A year later, he was awarded the Watson Fellowship to study architecture and sculpture in India for 12 months. In 1975, he went to London, attending classes in architecture at the Architectural Association School of Architecture from where he went to the Athens School of Fine Arts to study sculpture (1976-1981). He continued his studies in sculpture at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris on a French state scholarship (1984-1985) and in 1991, he received a scholarship for the Cartier Foundation in Paris.

Lot 120

Alecos Fassianos

Il s'agît d'une bonne œuvre

Fassianos has one of the most distinctive visual languages in the Greek art world. Like other members of the 30’s generation movement, his paintings mainly focused on humanity, narrating the everyday reality of post-war middle class Greek society, particularly that of his home city of Athens. In Il s'agît d'une bonne œuvre, painted in 1979, we see the artist’s soft pink palette and his characteristic “childlike” style, referencing Greek folk painting and traditional shadow puppet theatre. It encapsulates the qualities that make Fassianos such a unique narrator. The figure in this painting is enigmatic, reminiscent of the character of Karagiozis in shadow puppet theatre. Who is he meeting? Why is he running? Who are the flowers for? It is all very mysterious but, at the same time, the work feels familiar. The title of the painting translates to “This is a good work” – I can’t agree more!

Lot 53

Achilleas Droungas

L'après–midi paresseux

When I first saw this painting, I immediately thought of the following lines from the poet, Katerina Gogou, “Η ελευθερία μου είναι στις σόλες των αλήτικων παπουτσιών μου.” – My freedom lies on the soles of my bohemian shoes.

Executed in 1984, in Droungas’ characteristic trompe-l’oeil, photo-realistic technique, L'après–midi paresseux caught my attention straight away. I was intrigued by its contemporary composition and the subject matter’s relevance 37 years after it was painted. Its rather abstract composition leaves room for personal interpretation but, most importantly, the portrayal of the highly recognisable training shoes act as a bridge that transcend different generations with similar feelings and concerns.

I am also particularly drawn to Droungas’ unique way of capturing the radiant Greek light across the outskirts of the mountains – very familiar imagery for anyone who has visited and experienced Greece.

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