55 - CONSTANTINOS MALEAS (1879–1928)

CONSTANTINOS MALEAS (1879–1928) Monemvasia Signed in Greek (lower right) oil on canvas mounted on hard panel 32.5 × 40.5 cm. Painted c. 1924–1928 oil on canvas mounted on hard panel 12.80 × 15.94 in. Footnotes: Provenance Kourd Collection, Athens. Private collection, Athens. Exhibitions Athens, Zappeion Hall, C. Maleas, December 1924 (possibly). Literature A. Kotidis, The Painter C. Maleas (1879–1928), doctoral dissertation, Thessaloniki 1982, p. 154 (mentioned), p. 283, no. 212 (cataloged), fig. 6.62 (illustrated). In the 1920s, Maleas traveled extensively throughout mainland and island Greece, venturing to penetrate the inner world of this ancient land, become part of its reality, and then reinterpret it with creative freedom. Monemvasia belongs to this most mature period (1918–1928) of his art, during which all his defining stylistic features were fully developed. As noted by A. Kotidis, who wrote the artist’s monograph, “with these works, Maleas carved out his place in history as one of the fathers of 20th-century Greek art.”1 Although the Greek landscape fascinated Maleas, his Monemvasia does not lean toward the picturesque. There are no evocative details or narrative elements, no dramatic, romanticized views of the landscape threatened by dark and stormy skies. It was the enduring structure and powerful force of the sparse and barren land—rather than its topographical appeal—that intrigued the artist. His architectural studies helped him better understand the teachings of Cézanne, who had urged painters to treat their subjects in terms of primary geometric shapes and volumes. Here, the historic rock of Monemvasia is entrusted not only to the truth of the painter’s vision but also to the inner truth of the landscape’s enduring structure—a truth that no reference to ephemeral human presence or nature’s changing phenomena is allowed to disturb. The artist strives to capture the genuine elements—the very essence of the natural landscape—by eliminating the sense of depth and rendering distant forms as pronounced as those in the foreground. To create a powerful image and engage the viewer, he relies solely on formal and pictorial means. Demonstrating a bold handling of line, color, and volumetric form within a luminous and vibrant atmosphere, the artist transforms the stimuli of the visible world into an abstract language of signs articulated around a solid pictorial structure. The one element that defines Maleas’s mature work above all else is his ability to organize his painting as a system of forms, where nothing is random and everything follows a rigorous compositional plan that constitutes a new reality. 1. A.K. (A. Kotidis) in Dictionary of Greek Artists [in Greek], vol. 3, Melissa Publ., Athens 1999, pp. 31–32. For further information on this lot, please visit Bonhams.com