Nikos Engonopoulos (1907-1985) Scholiastes d'un... Lot 41

Nikos Engonopoulos (1907-1985) Scholiastes d'un texte futur/ Composition a la lampe signé en grec (en bas à droite) huile sur toile 92 x 73cm (36 1/4 x 28 3/4in). Peint en 1958. signed in Greek (lower right) oil on canvas £110000-150000 Provenance The artist's collection, Athens and thence by descent to the present owner. Exposé Athens, Zappeion Hall, VII Panhellenic Exhibition, April 21/June 1, 1963, no. 156 (listed in the exhibition catalogue). Athens, Nees Morfes Gallery, Art Transformations, December 1979 (illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, p. 15). Athens, National Gallery/Alexandros Soutzos Museum, Nikos Engonopoulos retrospective, April 3-15, 1983, no. 37 (listed in the exhibition catalogue, p. 42). Thessaloniki, Municipal Gallery, Nikos Engonopoulos, As Handsome as a Greek, 1997, no. B3. Athens, Astrolavos Gallery, Nikos Engonopoulos, Surrealist Whispers, October 24/November 29,2002, no. 7. Littérature The Greek Painters, vol. II, 20th Century, Melissa editions, Athens 1975, p. 262 (mentioned), p. 284 (illustrated). B. Spiliadi, Visual Remouldings, exhibition catalogue, Nees Morfes Gallery, December 1979, p. 15 (illustrated). Athens News newspaper, November 4, 1985 (illustrated). Athinorama magazine, November 7, 1985, p. 67 (illustrated). Eleftherotypia newspaper, November 1, 1985 (illustrated). Tachydromos magazine, no. 1644, November 14, 1985, p. 145 (illustrated). Nikos Engonopoulos, Drawings and Colours, Ypsilon Books editions, Athens 1996, p. 138 (illustrated). Politis magazine, December 15,2002, p. 8 (illustrated). D. Vlachodimos, Reading the Past in Engonopoulos, Indiktos editions, Athens2006, fig. 80 (illustrated). E. Benisi, Nikos Engonopoulos and Cityscapes, doctoral dissertation, University of Athens,2006, pp. 138, 140, 161, 163 (mentioned), p. 140a, fig. 98 (illustrated). D. Menti, Faces and Facades, Literary Identity Interpretations in Modern Greek Poets, Gutenberg editions, Athens2007, p. 118 (mentioned). K. Perpinioti-Agazir, Nikos Engonopoulos, Son Univers Pictural, exhibition catalogue and catalogue raisonée, Benaki Museum, Athens2007, no. 600, p. 92 (illustrated), p. 459 (catalogued and illustrated). N. Chaini, The Painting of Nikos Engonopoulos, doctoral dissertation, National Technical University of Athens,2007, p. 436 (discussed), p. 437, fig. 168 (illustrated). K magazine, no. 13-14, June2007 (cover illustration). Bathed in an atmosphere of clarity and glow, this exquisite painting is recognised by Melissa editions The Greek Painters as one of the finest examples of the artist's mastery of colour.1 The glittery yellow, green and orange tunics worn by the three figures and the enamellike blues and reds of the background, applied side by side on the canvas without tonal gradations, invite the viewer to a festive ritual. “Engonopoulos is a dedicated coloriste, adhering to a long and rich Greek tradition that goes way back to the Homeric epics.”2 Errieti Engonopoulou, the artist's daughter, holds that “for him each colour has its own value, its own voice”3, much the same way as in Byzantine art, which Engonopoulos always considered an art form Greeks closely relate to. The three phantom-like mannequin figures holding a lamp, a book and a statuette, introduce us to an enigmatic world of poetic metaphor, apparently glorifying an unknown heroic or epic event that echoes the didactic description of Byzantine icon painting and the high rhetoric of the artist's beloved teacher C. Parthenis.4 Elegant, athletic and full of youthful virility, the three scholiasts chant the glory and beauty of the human figure. As noted by Athens National Gallery Director M. Lambraki-Plaka, “Engonopoulos's figures may draw their origin from Giorgio de Chirico but they are unmistakably Greek, reminiscent of the Minoans immortalised on the Knossos frescoes and the early kouroi, while alluding to the tall and slender formula of the Byzantine saints also evident in El Greco's work.”5 Likewise, Professor D. Papastamos notes that “Engonopoulos's heroes are not ‘disquieted'; on the contrary they fully experience an everyday reality still bound with tradition and eastern myths.”6 The visual act takes place in shallow, stage-like indoor space, accentuating the sense of theatricality which is a key element of Engonopoulos's work. As noted by art historian P. Rigopoulou, the artist never hesitated to explore the correlations between theatrical and pictorial space and introduce the theatrical into his painting.7 “The lack of vast open spaces and supernatural landscapes whose sheer size nullifies the human scale is a typically Greek element. Standing in front of a fastened curtain and illuminated by a circular glow reminiscent of a theatrical spotlight, the three protagonists of this 1958 scene recall a text by Engonopoulos written a few years later: “The curtain is drawn, and under the st