Nicos Hadjikiriakos Ghika Greek, 1906-1994

Private Collection, Athens

Athens, To Trito Mati, Nikos Hadjikiriakos-Ghika, March 1979

According to Dimitris Papastamos, Ghika's "Greek vision started to materialise systematically, from the most avant-garde to the most conservative forms, and from the grand ambitions to create an art which is both universal and Greek, to the most humble and localistic-nationalistic endeavour to start with the study and discovery of our own surroundings. In Ghika's painting the mixture is a constant quest, and the stimulus for its realisation is provided by his native island Hydra, and by Greek nature and mythology. Islands, houses with sloping roofs, wild flowers, trees and cacti are elements recurring in Ghika's painting." (Dimitris Papastamos, Painting 1930-40: The Artistic and Aesthetic Vision of the Decade, Athens, 1981, pp. 91-92).