Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika

(Greek, 1906-1994)

Summer House/ Maison d'eté

Footnotes

A powerful post-cubist townscape displaying an almost abstract architectural network of close-knit rhythmical structures, fragmented interlocking planes, and spatially distorted labyrinthine grids, Summer house showcases Ghika's belief that "the character of the Greek schema, whether in antiquity, the Byzantine era or folk art, is by and large geometric."¹ The rhythmically developed and spatially distorted depictions of Byzantine towns—used as backdrops for religious subjects in much of icon painting—are here pushed to a relentless extreme, transformed into a dense web of fragmented lines, sharp angles and spiralling curves. As the schematic undulations of the townscape ascend in petrified waves of subdued colour highlighted by wonderful lavenders and lilacs, the horizontal tilts into the vertical, echoing the Byzantine backgrounds that tend to unfold upwards instead of receding in depth. As noted by Professor M. Michelis, "Ghika's vision is akin to the Byzantine mosaics of the Chora Monastery."<sup>2

1</sup> N. Hadjikyriakos-Ghika, "On Greek Art" [in Greek], Neon Kratos journal, no. 5, January 1938.
² M. Michelis, "N. Hadjikyriakos-Ghika" [in Greek], Zygos magazine, no. 58, September 1960, p. 10.