Yiannis Tsarouchis

The watery and layered delicacy with which Tsarouchis builds up each plane of washes, sketchy lines and blocks of strong colour is highlighted in Still Life of Yellow Roses and Fruit. Corresponding to another Tsarouchis of a similar subject, Still Life of Blue Irises and Fruit (see lot 30), the present work manipulates the medium, limiting the sense of depth by avoiding a heavy impasto and bringing the pictorial elements to a basic level that is truly modern while evocative of the inspiration of Hellenic artistic precedents as well as the modernist French School of the early 20^th Century. 

The influence of the artist's background in stage design was paramount in the conception as well as the composition and organisation of the pictorial space in works such as the present piece.  The building up of form with each consecutive stratum, constrained by a shallow, stage-like configuration had its origin in the beginning of Tsarouchis' professional involvement with set design in 1928. He would intermittently participate in cooperative undertakings with the National Theatre, the State Opera, Karolos Koun's Art Theatre, the Ancient Theatre at Epidaurus, Covent Garden in London, the Dallas Civic Opera of Texas, the Théâtre National Populaire of Paris and Teatro Olympico in Vincenza, as well as teaching stage design at the Doxiadis School.