NIKOS HADJIKYRIAKOS-GHIKA (1906-1994) Paysage d Hydra

NIKOS HADJIKYRIAKOS-GHIKA (1906-1994) Paysage d' Hydra signé « GHIKA » en bas à gauche huile sur panneau 39 x 56,5 cm. (15.35 x 22.24 in.) Peint en 1949. Oil on panel Footnotes: Literature K.C. Valkana, Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika, His Painting Oeuvre, Benaki Museum edition, Athens 2011, cat. no. 173, p. 284 (illustrated). As noted by Patrick Leigh Fermor, 'Hydra has played the same compelling role in the life of Ghika as Spain, and more specifically, Catalonia in the work of Picasso. In this precipitous and austere island, geological tumult and the symmetry of architecture are locked in perpetual strife. Whorls and flutings soar in organic upheavals above a discipline of roofs on which one always seems to look down. Across this chaos of angles in Ghika's pictures and in the rocks of Hydra run flights of steps which zigzag in the manner of collapsible rulers. Terraces, tilted at straight angles to husband the rare raindrops, are backed by high walls. In the scorching light, the confusion of levels and angles and tilts adds a fourth dimension. It holds in mid-air a shower of cubes and right angles and semicircles and spheres and polyedra like the stage properties of a conjuror that have miraculously halted and frozen in the middle of a juggling act.'1 Painted in 1949, this advanced formulation of Hydra's labyrinthine architectural complex echoes the fragmented angular shapes, interwoven geometric planes and spatial distortions cultivated by cubism, while alluding to an enduring convention of Greek art through the ages. As noted by the painter himself, 'the character of the Greek schema, whether in antiquity, the Byzantine era or folk art, is by and large geometric.'2 This particular view, with its characteristic red-roof houses, sloping terrain, jagged stone walls and insular flora, shows the small inlet of Kamini, above which the Ghika family's imposing mansion was perched. As noted by writer E. Fenton in 1948, 'from many of its terraces there is a superb view of the roofs of the village below.'3 1. P. Leigh Fermor, 'Ghika's Landscape and the Island of Hydra', Greek Heritage quarterly, vol. II, no. 5, 1965, pp. 74-75. 2. N. Hadjikyriakos-Ghika, 'On Greek Art' [in Greek], Neon Kratos journal, no. 5, January 1938. 3. E. Fenton, 'White Islands of the Aegean', Town and Country magazine, July 1948, p. 95. This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: AR AR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com