80 - ELENI STATHOPOULOU (1914–2016)

ELENI STATHOPOULOU (1914–2016) Nude signed in Greek (lower right) oil and charcoal on canvas 60 x 73 cm. (23.62 × 28.74 in.) Painted c. 1946–1949 oil and charcoal on canvas Footnotes: Provenance Estate of the artist. Exhibitions Athens, National Library of Greece, Eleni Stathopoulou 1914–2016, The Geometry of Colours, October 18, 2020 – January 5, 2021, no. 32 (mentioned on p. 28 and illustrated in the exhibition catalog on p. 115). A restless mind and a free spirit, Eleni Stathopoulou was a pioneering modernist who fled to Paris in 1945 aboard the historic RMS Mataroa alongside a generation of Greek intellectual vanguards, to immerse herself in the aims and aspirations of the international avant-garde. During her years in Paris (1945–1949), she studied under the legendary Cubist André Lhote and embarked on a quest for originality and the reinvention of ideas and forms. As noted by art historian S. Moschonas, Stathopoulou gradually evolved toward Cubism. Her striking nudes, which evoke Modigliani or, more frequently, Matisse—such as the *Nude* [included in this auction]—likely represent the intermediate link from her Cézanne-inspired endeavors toward mastering a style that, thanks to its rich and luminous color, alludes to the vibrant canvases of Lhote.1 1. See S. Moschonas, “Shapes, Rhythms, and Colours in the Chests of Oblivion” in Eleni Stathopoulou 1914–2016, The Geometry of Colours, exhibition catalog, Athens 2020, p. 28. For further information on this lot, please visit Bonhams.com