026. KONTOGLOU Fotis (1895-1965)

 ‘Art inspires Iktinos and Kallikrates to create the Parthenon’ 1949 

Signed & dated egg-tempera on plywood 34×66 cm

€3,000 – €3,500

PROV. Private coll. Thessaloniki

Challenging the artistic modernity of the early 20th century, he adopts the narrative and style of the post-Byzantine and folk tradition in order to connect Byzantine and ancient Greek art through a quest for continuity and cohesion of the Greek cultural identity. This newly discovered work by Fotis Kontoglou, one of the foremost representatives of the “1930s generation” and the teacher of many notable Greek artists, is possibly one of his greatest; the unique, uncompromising purity of his brush depicts an angel alongside the two architects of the Parthenon, flouting the linear nature of historical time. Once again, he manifests his view that the artist “lives in an infinity”, “beyond the narrow borders of epoch” and “in the ether of absolute freedom”.