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Poésie (Annonciation) by Constantinos Parthenis (1878-1967) leads Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr’s Greek Sale in Paris on Wednesday 20 May. The largest painting by the artist ever offered at auction, it is estimated at €300,000 to 500,000. This oil on canvas, executed circa 1950, blends symbolism, spirituality and abstraction, with delicate lines, simplified forms inspired by ancient Greek art, and soft translucent colours. At its centre sits a young woman representing both the Virgin Mary and Poetry, gesturing toward an angel above while holding a scroll. The work was shown in the last retrospective of the artist, in 2022, at the National Gallery and Alexandros Soutzos Museum in Athens.
The Greek Sale is a collaborative sale organised by Bonhams in Paris and its associates in Athens, Art Expertise.
Full Moon H by Yiannis Moralis (1916-2009), a master of geometric abstraction, demonstrates solid structure, purity of form, disciplined rhythm and an interplay of gently flowing curves, achieving a balance between physical passion, lyrical feeling and intellectual thought. It is estimated at €250,000 to 350,000.
From a private collection in Athens, Sur le toit-terrasse, ile de Tinos by Nikolaos Lytras (1883-1927), an oil on canvas painted circa 1923 to 1926, is one of the twenty oils that represented Lytras’s work at the 1936 Venice Biennale, estimated at €70,000 to 100,000. It captures the brilliance of the Cycladic landscape through bold brushwork and thick layers of paint, with dynamic diagonal slopes and flowing curved lines giving the composition structure and energy.
Erotokritos et Aretoussa by Theofilos Hadjimichael (1871-1934) is a large fresco transferred onto canvas, estimated at €100,000 to 150,000. Originally from a mansion on Lesvos, it depicts the romantic meeting of Erotokritos and Aretoussa in a lush garden, its theatrical composition enriched by architectural elements and striking blues balanced with ochres and reds. Le Zeybek by Nicholaos Gysis (1842-1901), an oil on canvas painted circa 1873, is estimated at €50,000 to 70,000. Painted after Gysis travelled to Asia Minor in 1873 to study local life, it shows a young Zeybek figure in bright white garments and elaborate headgear, rendered with a restrained palette.
Pont à Santorin by Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika (1906-1994), an oil on canvas painted in 1963, is a highly abstract depiction of Santorini, estimated at €60,000 to 80,000. Ghika transforms the island’s complex architecture into a swirling, fragmented composition inspired by Paul Cézanne and post-Cubist ideas. An early work by Ghika, Femme avec miroir dans un intérieur, from a private collection in Athens, evokes the atmosphere of Parisian studios before the war and reflects the influence of Pablo Picasso, estimated at €40,000 to 60,000.
(Press Release)
