69 - YIANNIS SPYROPOULOS (1912–1990)

YIANNIS SPYROPOULOS (1912–1990) In the Forest V signed in Greek (lower left) oil on canvas 70 x 110 cm. Painted in 1958 oil on canvas 27.56 × 43.31 in. Footnotes: Literature Y. Papaioannou, The Work of the Painter Yannis Spyropoulos, doctoral dissertation, Athens 1994, no. 432, 58/3, p. 281 (cataloged). Y. Papaioannou, Yannis Spyropoulos - Monograph, Yannis and Zoe Spyropoulos Foundation, Athens 2010, no. 432, p. 210 (mentioned and illustrated). Impetuous, gestural brushwork and a disciplined compositional structure are brilliantly harmonized to produce a captivating blend of simplicity and sophistication. Sinuous lines and energetic shapes are set in motion by circular, gestural marks that endow the composition with an improvised yet coherent inner rhythm. The Greek landscape—with its masonry fences, arches, courtyards, and dry stone walls, observed from afar as outlined geometric shapes—served as a major source for the artist’s visual exploration before evolving into a sophisticated language of abstract forms.1 “The golden-yellow color that came to dominate Spyropoulos’s work by 1960—and which, in essence, reflects nothing more than the presence of sunlight, or rather Greek light—is something he finds around and within himself, in the past from which he hails and the present where he belongs. It reveals the influence of the Byzantine icon painting he grew up with and his familiarity with the Greek light under which he lives, while at the same time his work expresses the intricate nature of modern artistic creation.'2 1. See L. Tsikouta, “Processes, Influences, Assimilations, Personal Idiom, Birth of an Artwork: The Case of Jannis Spyropoulos” in Jannis Spyropoulos, The Classicist of Abstraction, exhibition catalog, National Gallery and Alexandros Soutzos Museum, Athens 1995, p. 141. 2. C. Christou, Jannis Spyropoulos [in Greek], Athens 1962, p. 158. 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