Yiannis Tsarouchis

The present work relates to the personification of Autumn, in Tsarouchis' The Four Seasons (lot 27). Dominic was one of the artist's favourite models during the 1970s, and also featured in the work The Artist in his Studio and a Model with a Helmet.  

In comparison to The Four Seasons, Dominic demonstrates the aesthetic and thematic development of this specific portrait from conception to full-fledged artistic expression. Dominic is representational, incorporating details that ground the depiction in a contemporary actuality, without any divine attributes. While The Four Seasons incorporates a few elements of earthly reality, such as jewellery and distinctly modern clothing, Dominic is a firm likeness rooted in the western tradition.

Tsarouchis himself defined his work as a constant oscillation between the Eastern and Western painterly styles, the modern and the old. He described the Eastern as a painterly method based on colour and its harmonious combinations, and in the recreation of forms, inevitably doing violence to perspective. The Western, or Greek and Hellenistic method, was based on a harmony of lines and colours which endeavoured to render reality objectively, respecting perspective. Rather than combining both techniques, he used them separately to explore their individual potential.