35 - YANNIS TSAROUCHIS (1910–1989)

YANNIS TSAROUCHIS (1910–1989) Young Man signed in Greek and dated “28-8-77” (lower left) oil on canvas 96 x 55.5 cm. (37.8 × 21.9 in.) oil on canvas Footnotes: Provenance D. Fotopoulos collection, Athens. Private collection, Athens. Conveying a sense of monumentality, composed stillness, and serene ethos, Tsarouchis’s signature male subject carries on the classical, man-centered humanist ideal, while at the same time capturing the confident spirit of contemporary life. Here, although the image of his young sitter is unmistakably identified as a youth from the 1970s, firmly anchored in the here and now, the white costume wings fastened to his shoulders suggest an everlasting world liberated from the fleeting moment. Through the quality and wisdom of his art, Tsarouchis succeeded in imbuing an everyday image with symbolic value and transforming a young man posing in his studio into a saint of a modern pantheon. As noted by Nobel laureate O. Elytis, “Tsarouchis restored the human body in a land whose age-old civilization has always been man-centered. Thanks to his paintings, the figures of Hermes, Narcissus, St. George, and St. Demetrius began to live and breathe again and move among us.”1 Rendered with marvelous restraint and captured in pure, understated forms highlighted by solid outlines and confident brushwork, Tsarouchis’s long-haired youth is imbued with an atmosphere of pensive serenity and grace, echoing the artist’s earlier *Thinker* series, while the low vantage point lends a sense of reserved authority and lofty stature. The simplified design, pronounced linearity, authenticity of character, and purity of form are also reminiscent of Fayum portraiture, which served as a major source of inspiration for Tsarouchis in his effort to reinterpret the age-old tradition of Greco-Roman and Byzantine art in a modern and vigorous manner. 1. O. Elytis, preface to the album *Yannis Tsarouchis: Fifteen Works and One Original Print 1938–1963* [in Greek], 1964. This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: AR AR Items subject to the artist’s resale royalty, payable by the buyer. For further information on this lot, please visit Bonhams.com