Lot 28AR
Yiannis Moralis(Greek, 1916-2009)Les deux amies
25 May 2023, 14:00 CEST
Paris, Avenue Hoche€40,000 - €60,000
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Yiannis Moralis (Greek, 1916-2009)
Les deux amies
signé en grec (en bas à droite);
signé en grec et daté '1968' (au revers)
huile sur toile
47 x 56cm (18 1/2 x 22 1/16in).
signed in Greek (lower right);
signed in Greek and dated (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
signé en grec (en bas à droite);
signé en grec et daté '1968' (au revers)
huile sur toile
47 x 56cm (18 1/2 x 22 1/16in).
signed in Greek (lower right);
signed in Greek and dated (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
Footnotes
Littérature
Yannis Moralis, Commercial Bank of Greece Group of Companies edition, Athens 1988, no. 345, p. 314 (illustrated).
Transcending mere likeness to suggest inner truth and deeper meaning, the piercing, inquisitive eyes of two Greek friends stare out of the canvas in a way that vaguely echoes the brazen elegance of Quattrocento beauties. Having mastered the descriptive qualities of portraiture, Moralis set himself to bringing out the figure's underlying essence. The purity of form, the serene ethos and disciplined rhythm dictated by a deep sense for human scale, the shallow compositional depth reminiscent of sculptural relief, the statuesque immobility and the austerity of the horizontal and vertical lines that set up a perfectly balanced geometric edifice (note the ingenious use of a stretched canvas in the middleground to define spatial relationships), echo the timeless values of Greek idealistic art. Moreover, the stable light which does not come from an external source but seems to emanate from within alludes to the self-illuminating portraits of saints in Byzantine icon painting.