TA monumental sculpture by Henry Moore stands like a modern-day sentinel through the massive windows of an Art Deco villa flooded with natural light on a slope in central Athens. This is a setting that the great British sculptors of the 20th century would no doubt have approved of.
Against the backdrop of trees and a pure, simple interior, gagosian Moore's work attracts audiences eager to pay homage to the man who declared visiting the Acropolis “the greatest thrill I've ever had.”
“The response was incredibly enthusiastic,” says Christina Papadopoulou, the gallery's director. “Every day there was a constant flow of people. Schools, museum groups, etc. came here.”
Few artists have been as influenced by Greece or by Greek antique art or the prehistoric Cycladic civilization as Moore. The Yorkshireman's experience of the ancient marble and temple landscapes seen in the light of the country's legends paved the way for a dramatic change in his work.
Moore was fascinated by Greek mythology from an early age, but his only visit to the country was in 1951, when he was in his early 50s.
As the final stop of a major exhibition that toured the continent, the artist traveled to Athens to oversee the installation of a bronze statue in a show organized by the British Council at the capital's neoclassical Zappeion Hall .
The visit got off to an inauspicious start, just two years after Greece's bloody civil war. Conservative critics, who have little appreciation for modern or avant-garde art, say these sculptures have no place under the bright skies of an attic and are more like “petrified rocks.” Ta.
“They have a slightly curved shape and movement, but lack perfect balance.” Estia The newspaper proclaimed it on its front page. “They have no nose, no ears, no hands, no feet. Why are they exhibited in the city of Athena and Phidias, where the sun and light of the attic will brutally expose their absurdity?”
of aCropolis He said they “look as if they were torn from the dark caverns of his country's coal mines.”
But the exhibition was also an extraordinary success, attracting more people on its first day than during the entire six-week exhibition in Paris.
After visiting the ruins of Delphi, Olympia, and Mycenae, Moore changed in ways he never expected. Previously, his stone and wood carvings were primarily inspired by African and Mesoamerican art. His attention is now focused on classical Greek antiquity and the use of curtains to define form, allowing bronzes created on a large scale to convey a greater sense of movement. It has become.
“He saw in Greece a wonderful example of how architecture and sculpture can coexist,” said Godfrey Wordsdale, chairman of the Henry Moore Foundation, which co-organized this year's exhibition. Ta. fallen warrior Other important sculptures in Moore's “Dialogue with Greek Art” were included.
Mr. Wordsdale said that the effect of sunlight on the treasures, which Mr. Moore had previously only read about, greatly influenced his work. “His visit to Greece had a profound and decisive influence on the direction of his subsequent work.'' “It was very easy to understand.''
Ten years later, recalling his stay in Greece, the artist describes his experience as revelatory. “I felt like I understood the whole idea of Greece much more completely than I ever had before.
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“The Greek landscape was another revelation for me. Its stark stone textures give you a sense of foreboding that there might be an ocean around the next corner.” I can understand why.”
Rarely does an exhibition explore the Greek influence on an artist whose work is astounding and multifaceted. Until her death in 1986, Moore avidly painted, sculpted, worked with textiles, and made prints throughout her prolific career. But he also helped break convention more than 70 years ago in Greece.
“Even now, there are people here who vividly remember his work on display at the Zappeion,” says the 1951 exhibition, which sparked the controversy when he co-curated an exhibition of the British artist's work at the Zappeion. says art historian Elizabeth Pressa, who chronicled the uproar. Andros 24 years ago. “We had never seen anything like this here before. It was taken as shocking, but we saw this sculpture as confirmation of everything we had suspected about existing art. Some young artists thought about it and welcomed it enthusiastically.
Sculptors who had just graduated from the Athens Academy of Fine Arts and had never been exposed to such daring art before gathered at Zappeion. Zappeion was the venue for last week's sold-out international trade fair, Art Atina, in a country where the art scene is booming. .
Now, for a new generation coming to see an exhibition of Moore's work in Greece for the first time in 20 years, the appeal of his bronze sculptures lies in their “purity and freshness,” Papadopoulos says. “For Greeks, exploring the connection between their country and one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th century was deeply personal.”
“Younger generations clearly feel the need to experience both modern and contemporary art, and you can see that in new artist-run spaces and small galleries here,” she added.
Moore is said to be Britain's first truly international artist. In today's world, the sculptor may not realize it, but like other 20th century literary and artistic giants, he was perhaps unconsciously instrumental in strengthening Anglo-Greek relations. I have contributed. This may be particularly pertinent at a time when Britain's New Labor government appears intent on resetting diplomatic relations with Europe.
Among those attending the show's opening was the British Ambassador to Greece, Matthew Lodge, who later said: observer Outside of government work, it was people like Moore who “played a vital role in laying the foundation for the modern relationship that our two countries enjoy today.”
