Myrό Antiques House auction of October the 3rd 2012

WE kindly invite you to attend the first auction for this season in Antiques House, taking place on October the 3rd, starting at 19.00 Special in this auction quality antiques of significant eras and styles will be sold in shockingly low starting prices. Please find all the items at our brand new English website  www.antiqueshouse.gr.

Every two months “Myrό Antiques House” holds an estate sale auction emphasizing in great artworks, antique furniture, old objects, rare books and antiquities, with a focus at art nouveau, art deco and Biedermeier periods.

Highlights
In this particular auction, a  complete set of Anacharsis, is sold, in an 1790 print, which consists of the Atlas and 7 volumes in shocking starting price. There is no place over the web that this set can be found complete, at the 1790 edition, with all the books and all the engravings, in a price less than €1500, in a starting price €600. Also, desk clocks with remarkable by-standing sculpted accessories and statues -especially originals of art deco period, philatelist collections, and, a  clavichord - an extremely rare musical instrument with an embedded painting of R. Whistler. Last but not least, there is a great painting, very close to the original Millet's painting "Les Glaneuses". It is shocking that the work is of the same era, circa 1860. Signed and lacking maintenance. It could be the signing student or someone who painted the same painting in the same time as Millet. It is extremely rare to find the same panel and the same theme, painted in the same year. I would not be surprised if after maintenance and research, the painting would exceed a value of 30000€ to 40000€ (in the light of the recent discovery that an acknowledged copy of Giokonta, proved to be an authentic double!). Dimensions of frame: 126cm (width) x 106cm (height). Dimensions of piece: 90cm x 70cm; starting price: €3500. More than 300 lots are expecting to be claimed by the bidders.

Registration & Terms
Bidders must carry their identity card or passport, should come to the auction site at least a half hour earlier to register, and, they either pay and get everything they buy during the auction on site, or, alternatively, come and get it / arrange their transfer with a minimum cost, within the next two weeks. It is worth noting that the auction items are on exhibition in the auction a month earlier, to enable the participants to examine up close. 

Transportation
If you wish to come with your own car, please read at the page "Contact & Venue" at our website. However, we can bring you to the auction venue from the center of the Thessaloniki (Lefkos Pyrgos area) and back there after the end of the auction with our luxurious bus, which leaves at 18.00 sharp: contact us to reserve seats for you and your friends.

Moreover, attendants can be present at the whole of the procedure without registering or bidding, as observers, for free, with no cost.

The language of the auction is greek, but assistance with translators for non-greek speakers is available upon request; contact us before the auction day to make use of this.

In addition if you have items you are thinking to sell through our auctions, please contact Mr. Stavros Muronidis (info@antiqueshouse.gr or by calling at 0030 6971890212). 

EDITO

IF the Editorial of this new issue of Arts & Antiques magazine, in the brand new issue that's being distributed these days in Thessaloniki, had a title, this could be "optimism and extroversion are the antidote to the crisis." The reality rewards courageous entrepreneurial endeavors, and we see significant opportunities coming from abroad in the Arts market. The season begins with optimism and new challenges for those who can see them.

Moreover, in all our business activities partnerships are launching. In an original auction, unique in its kind for Greece, “Antiques House” in collaboration with the gallery of Lola Nikolaou and leading engravers and painters will make available to the public a number of masterpieces at shockingly low prices, which certainly will not be found anywhere else. Prices are formed at extremely low cost since everyone involved -the first and foremost artists- have contributed to low prices in order to give the public the opportunity to acquire works by understanding the demanding conditions of the market amidst the financial crisis.

In Myro Gallery the season begins with two international project. The first (opening Sept. 27) is the work of a collective of international artists “TeeToTum” curated from two greek artists -Fotini Hamidieli and Georgia Grigoriadou respectively. The artists whose work is presented in this exhibition constitute examples of strength as each one of them has successfully overcome or is in the process of dealing with a crisis of some sort. The curators state about the exhibition: “They have not allowed a crisis to bring them down but instead they have used it to expand their boundaries using their inner strength in a creative manner. Through their work they reflect on their lives, expressing creatively their turmoil, providing a voice for other people so they may also find relief in the realization of a common fate. The word 'crisis' is too often heard nowdays in the media all over Europe and particularly in Greece. It is heard in everyday conversations, it is in the lips of old and young alike taking on very negative proportions. We can find ways, we must find ways to diminish the negative force and connotations of "crisis". Art is an excellent means to provide some balance and tranquility in our lives”. The exhibition will present works of 21 artists and a finissage is being scheduled at October the 25^th with a performance orchestrated and accomplished by Miss Helena Tonikidi, who is also contributing 3 paintings to the exhibition.

In November we present another exhibition with an international flair, titled “Watercolour International. More than twenty watermedia artists will participate in an exhibition in the Myro Gallery in Thessaloniki from November 1 to 24, 2012. Artists from Greece, England, USA, Canada, France and Belgium are participating in, and celebrating International Watercolor Day on November 23rd - a day proposed by Guati Rojo from Mexico (Mexican Society of Watercolor Painters). The visitor will have the chance to meet important, successful and award winning watermedia painters as well as get acquainted with their work. Visitors will be able to see different and innovative approaches; variations of technique and experimental ideas and methods. Pure watercolours, along with gouache, collage, inks, acrylics and mixed media either on paper or canvas will be exhibited, showcasing modern watermedia. Several demonstrations will take place during the exhibition.

In addition its proper we encourage you not to overlook the upcoming “Antiques House” auction; real treasures are waiting for your bids on October the 3^rd in the bimonthly auction of the House. Read and find out everything about the items available at http://www.artsandauctions.gr/index.php/en/

Do you wish to work with us?

Arts & Antiques Magazine is looking for partners in its advertising section. For further information please call Mr. Stavros Muronides at (0030) 6971890212 or contact us via email at myro.thessaloniki@gmail.com to arrange a meeting.

Arts & Antiques summer greetings

Myrό Gallery and the Antiques House wish you a pleasant and relaxing summer. Before you go, you may want to take another look at our album "Arts & Antiques Fair 2012" we've presented on July in Athos Palace Resort in actually marking the end of the season. 
 
See you on September. 

"Avli" | A yard of good taste -in every extent

OUR presence in Kallithea, Chalkidiki for the opening of the summer branch of Antiques House led us -among other things- to the tastefull discovery of an ever popular restaurant specialized in creative Greek cuisine called “Avli” (which means yard in Greek). At the heart of Kallithea, one of  the most beautiful destination amidst the popular area of Kassandra, Chalkidiki in Northern Greece, Avli is not only an adored spot of the locals, but also an excellent choice for the tourists and visitors to taste Greek food at its best.

READ MORE...

Time has stopped at Antiques House

Mechanical clocks came as an advancement to the metrics of time as they the old water clocks, which, by the 13th century, had been around for millennia. Water flowed steadily into a vertical tank and the rising water level indicated the time of day. That's simple enough, but, like mechanical clocks, water clocks had become ornate structures with gears and dials. Like mechanical clocks, they tolled the hours and displayed the planets. As expected the new device was smaller in size and more delicate, though the size of a freestanding floor clock either of this era, ore even one much “younger” would seem like a large piece of furniture today...

READ MORE...

Faces of Art | Emilia Xanthopoulou

Emilia Xanthopoulou was born in 1983 in Thessaloniki. She studied at the School of Fine Arts of Thessaloniki (2003-2008) and extended her studies for a year at the School of Fine Arts in Madrid. Subsequently she undertook graduate studies at Central Saint Martins College of London (2009-2010) with Joanna Greenhill, where she was awarded the Mishcon De Reya Art Prize...  «I think when the simple painting really becomes Art, like any Art, fosters knowledge and creates conditions for new horizons. Observing the shape, color, form, light and shadow, I am constantly trying  to broaden my own horizons, and, within my skills, to actually produce Art...».

READ MORE...
 

Nikolaos Gyzis, paintings that rejoice life 111 after the demise of their creator

NOT many things seem so unnatural to me as the claim that the classic greek painter Nikolaos Gyzis was the academic standard of his times, unless accompanied with the clarification of what was consider academic in his times! In this article I would like to present to our readers one of the most dynamic personalities in art of all eras in Greece, an excellent man and artist exemplar for the turn of the 20th century, for whom books have been written yet essential elements of his personality and paintings are not stressed, or known to the non specialized public, and whose contribution changed everything in Greek Art...

READ MORE

The art discource of Fotini Hamidieli -an interview with the artist

FOTINI HAMIDIELI is an artist of rare breed in our era; one that assimilate all and every step of her existence into a new form, though keep walking at the same path she has chosen. Her strong personal style combined with a self – referential context within her art, makes her work distinct. Through our co-operation in Myrό Gallery we did not just meet a great artist, but a great lady as well, having the chance to discus on various subjects and aspects of the artistic experience. This interview was then set up, concluding our discussions and giving birth to others. An interview to Paris Kapralos.

READ MORE...

The Art Nouveau style and its era

A largely disparate movement that developed in the late 19th century until the early 20th century, the Art Nouveau (which means "New Art" written in french) as it is commonly known-and even worldwide affected every aspect of aesthetics in a catalytic grade. Despite the universal acceptance of the French term, the German name of the movement "Jugendstil" and Austrian "Secession" is equally acceptable, while other names previously received are remarkable more for historic reference: "Stile Liberty" was called in Italy, "Modern style "and, later, when modernism prevailed," Early Modernism "in America," Modernism "in Spain. Additionally, he was named «stile floreale»-while the actual style was already in bloom- a title deriving from the main decorative element, the curved undulating line, which often develops as a stylized flower and its sublime symbolisms...

READ MORE...

Art Nouveau is rarely so fully in control of architecture: 

doorway at place Etienne Pernet, 24 (Paris 15e), 

1905 Alfred Wagon, architect.

Arts & Antiques Fair 2012 | A summer of Arts and Antiques in Halkidiki

Success has many faces and we were more than pleased to see many of them during those three days of Arts & Antiques Fair. Despite the fail offs of  the first-timer, our resolution to remain available for 12 hours (10.00 – 22.00) each day gave everyone the opportunity to visit us whenever he/she wanted, even though the preferable time for many of you turned out to be afternoon and the early evening.

The majority of the audience were they welcomed were foreigners, as we had expected and wished, due to our best intentions to show quality art and antiques in a more scarce in the city of Thessaloniki public. However, it would be unfair not to thank the Greek visitors who came along to see us. A big thank you is also in place for Nikos & Eleni Grigoriades, owners of G Hotels and the luxurious resort “Athos Palace” in Kallithea which accommodated the Arts & Antiques Fair, as well as the hotel staff who immediately responded to our every request.

The process was arduous but enjoyable. Useful and constructive. And there would be none of this if we had a good team, a professional company and perfect partners.

In addition, we have attracted wide attention from the media, both nationally and locally (over 50 publications in newspapers and printed media in general, hosting in radio and television broadcasts, etc.).

The Arts & Antiques Fair is a newfangled institution that aspire to expand and develop in the coming years. Further and more interesting is that we intend to expand our business ecosystem to welcome everyone to this who will want to work through this crisis, rather than trying to salvage what remained from the market of the past, but building together a new market and our future. 

-Stavros Muronides & Paris Kapralos

Watch the slideshow of the "Arts & Antiques Fair 2012"

Faces of Art | Emilia Xanthopoulou

Emilia Xanthopoulou was born in 1983 in Thessaloniki. She studied at the School of Fine Arts of Thessaloniki (2003-2008) and extended her studies for a year at the School of Fine Arts in Madrid. Subsequently she undertook graduate studies at Central Saint Martins College of London (2009-2010) with Joanna Greenhill, where she was awarded the Mishcon De Reya Art Prize.. 

«I think when the simple painting really becomes Art, like any Art, fosters knowledge and creates conditions for new horizons. Observing the shape, color, form, light and shadow, I am constantly trying  to broaden my own horizons, and, within my skills, to actually produce Art. When I paint I try to fathom the essential, which is the utopian image of the artist on how the world should actually be. I am aware that there are those who would criticize me on this particular obsession. But I am interested to see and learn from my art, to communicate through it and rather be able to provide for the viewer of my works (on the latter I have no obsessions). Today knowledge of painting has been disgraced. Nowadays anyone can make art our of trash, roses, whatever else... But as someone claimed "so make sure you can use your magic wand to transform trash into the finest fillet, it is advisable to experiment on your own and not on the unsuspected customers of the restaurant." Finally, the confusion of values ​​that characterizes people in our times cannot affect the art itself; maybe the opposite happens, ie, the confusion of values that exist in art itself, cannot possibly affect the people of today».

The art discource of Fotini Hamidieli -an interview with the artist

FOTINI HAMIDIELI is an artist of rare breed in our era; one that assimilate all and every step of her existence into a new form, though keep walking at the same path she has chosen. Her strong personal style combined with a self – referential context within her art, makes her work distinct. Through our co-operation in Myrό Gallery we did not just meet a great artist, but a great lady as well, having the chance to discus on various subjects and aspects of the artistic experience. This interview was then set up, concluding our discussions and giving birth to others.

Interview to Paris Kapralos

- How did your journey in art begin?

My stay in New York and my teenage years was a determining factor in my choice to deal both with art as well as to find my place in it. I was fortunate in visiting great exhibitions, like one of Cezanne, organized by the Museum of Modern Art in New York when I was 16 years old, and a little later a retrospective exhibition of prints by Goya, another with drawings and sculptures of Giacometti... These were the initial experiences that triggered me to seek my position for many years I tried to find where I belong, a procedure that helped my first attempt to assimilate foreign environment, to feel that "I belong. I moved to America at the age of 12 – 13 and that's something that marks you for life at that age..

- What's the focus in your artworks and how they have shifted during your life?

My work is mainly man-centered and turns around human figure. I have also created some landscape works, due to a personal requirement that I had to work the human figure in the presence of a natural model, a condition I was not able to fullfill at all times. On the other hand, the landscape was lways there for me, so, I did many landscaped lacking a human model. Then came a period that I worked intensely with portraits as well as with abstraction. However, when you re very young abstraction is a bit difficult style to manage; as a matter of fact its an extremely demanding style that requires experience and a maturity that can not be found at an early age. The truth is that I do not wish to have a specific goal when painting. I seek for no direction apart from that the work itself as it develops can provide and I prefer not to rationalize.

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- An element ever present in your works is very distinct sketching...

There was a period that I had abandoned sketching, though it still was significant within my works in a substrate layer. En route I re-discovered it through crayons and charcoal and the vigor of the simple line; I begun utilizing the sketch once again. I wondered “how much can the sketch be developed? I how many things can I do with it?” Through the process you find out things...

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- So determinant in your new series of works is not the way, namely the fact that the project is more intense and "hard"....

My designs may have a specific image and figure, but often when I create my paintings thinking about masses, concentrated forms and existence contrasts: the mass of white paper and through the mass to arise or emerge figures. You can see for example "black" from my new projects included in the last report in my Myrό gallery, within which a mass of lines through which flow into faces and forms is illustrated clearly. In those works the feeling is not only cleared, its appearing in a profound manner. When painting I had a definite image in my mind. I started to paint a smudge, somewhat inevitably, automatically and spontaneously. I saw the smudge like an explosion went up, stretched. The existence of the head on top of the mass, cut off from a complete figure was a shocking episode for me.

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-From the viewer's point of view, your art till very recently seemed to belong to the figurative area; only recently abstract elements have are found in your work, seemingly with a renewed perspective... Truth is I'm somewhat feared of abstraction. When I younger there was a period that the only thing I was working on was abstraction. Although I started very well, the ending was not good. Very soon dried up, because when you are young you do not have much to say in this way. I think you have to have very good foundations firmly inside you to do abstraction. All these happened at my 22. Since then there are times I attempt to go back to abstraction not to forward towards iit, bbut carefully, little step each time; I must feel assured I can manage well. Abstaction is not just aligned lines, impressive colours and patterns: it requires comprehension, structure and maturity. Otherwise it feels empty.
 

-Are there people with a key role in your route?

The most significant thing that really marked me was the death of my sister and not a meeting with someone. Since then, painting has been a mean of communication and continuing relationship with my sister, as somehow already constitutes an alternative way to communicate with my mother who is currently not in a good condition. Actually, I think what turned me to painting was my attempt to communicate.

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-What was the part that leaving for the States played in the development of your special artistic sight? 

I completed my studies in a highly innovative school. Our training is not based on the acquisition of knowledge, but experience did not emphasize the refinement of a given mode and route learning. However the way we were taught, was extremely free, open-minded and certainly effective. We had the chance to study sketch with models as much as maybe no other school of art worldwide. We had so many options to explore, we were assisted to choose the path that suits us really by the end of the day, it was possible that we experiment with a lot, without having anyone telling us that “this the right thing to do” and something else is not. Every artist must have strong foundations to build on, but the way you acquire knowledge is never unique, in the same way there is no single road to the truth for everyone!

-Tell us about the times you've worked together with Dinos Christianopoulos....

The first time I took part in an exhibition was in 1982, at “Mikri Pinakothiki Diagonios”, which belonged to Dinos Christianopoulos. It was a lifetime experience for me, not only because it was the first time to exhibit but moreover because of the co-operation with Christianopoulos himself, and many other artists, writers, poets, musicians, all the Christianopoulos' personal circle who had embraced his attempt to bring a new kind of cultural style to the city of Thessaloniki. Great help, but grave, rigorous severity. Every fortnight I would get him some of my newest paintings to take a look; he would criticize them with sternness, no matter who would be present. He used to put it with an elegant humorous spice everytime he did that, so that the aftereffect was not bitter: “This should be the perfect ornament for sheep; it certainly will become them”, “Oh that would be a marvelous addition for my sheepfold in the village”... Comments like that could be outspoken in front of anyone!
 

-Your path is somehow double, after working for many years in education. How consistent is the one object to the other?

Perfectly harmonious and excellent to each other I would say.

I work in education for 20 years. I work at the school and also organize workshops for children. My path is not merely parallel but complementary. You can experiment with another way I can express myself more, and, ultimately, learn and gain a lot from my interaction with the children. It's amazing to me that breathe through these children. Its something to do with their carelessness that renews me, while creativity and their joy in being able to create things can “re-charge” the artist in a unique manner. You feel that you really communicate with someone who understands and feels deeply the way you do whhen creating your works. The school and the teaching used to frighten me for very long time before I make up my mind and start teaching. I thought I would run out soon, and I avoided it for several years; I was just teaching English for 11 years before I try teaching art...

Time has stopped at Antiques House

Mechanical clocks came as an advancement to the metrics of time as they the old water clocks, which, by the 13th century, had been around for millennia. Water flowed steadily into a vertical tank and the rising water level indicated the time of day. That's simple enough, but, like mechanical clocks, water clocks had become ornate structures with gears and dials. Like mechanical clocks, they tolled the hours and displayed the planets. As expected the new device was smaller in size and more delicate, though the size of a freestanding floor clock either of this era, ore even one much “younger” would seem like a large piece of furniture today.

The accuracy of these mechanical clocks was limited at first. In the 16th century, pocket watches were discovered, but they were quite big as well, and were worn on a chain round the neck, and of course the first "table" clocks made their appearance, although most of them were to be found resting on parapets of large fireplaces, in the case they were not considered a "furniture" themselves! Around 1700 Queen Anne of England offered a small fortune as a reward to anyone who would discover a way to calculate with the maximum accuracy longitude. Ten years later, the watchmaker John Harrison, discovered that for an accurate determination of longitude requires accurate time measurement. So the Navy utilized for the first time what later became known as the “Harrison Marine Chronometer”, which measured the time with great accuracy and was tested by famous explorers such as Captain Cook. This device won the Queen's supremacy and led to the construction of the first precision clock. The next century with the advancement of technology the first wristwatches began to emerge, which were worn only by women, while men used pocket watches only. This social habit was reversed in the First World War that the great need for consistency in time became understood, and so the wristwatch was worn by men. In the modern era the clocks became more elaborate objects...

In the slideshow you will see some of the most beautiful watches that will go through the auction of June 6 in Antiques House. For more information (prices start as many elements for each object), find the root directory of the auction by clicking HERE. 

Nikolaos Gyzis, paintings that rejoice life 111 after the demise of their creator

NOT many things seem so unnatural to me as the claim that the classic greek painter Nikolaos Gyzis was the academic standard of his times, unless accompanied with the clarification of what was consider academic in his times! In this article I would like to present to our readers one of the most dynamic personalities in art of all eras in Greece, an excellent man and artist exemplar for the turn of the 20th century, for whom books have been written yet essential elements of his personality and paintings are not stressed, or known to the non specialized public, and whose contribution changed everything in Greek Art.

By Paris Kapralos

Nikolaos Gyzis, an extremely dynamic, cordial personality and a truly natural talent, was able to assimilate and blend in a rare manner all the knowledge and experience he came in contact with, and to transcribe it in a way that contributed to the progress of Greek art at his times, as very few other visual artists have accomplished. His works retain their strength and their emotional charge, even 111 years after his death. His works do not remain merely "immortal", a term reserved for other major painters in the arts history; they often remain alive.

Born in a poor family of carpenters Onoufrios Gyzis Gyzis and Margaret, nee Psaltis, in a little village named “Sklavochori” on the island of Tinos the 1st of March 1842, he followed the family to resettlement in Athens in 1850 and attended the so called "School of Fine Arts" (1854 - 1864), with teachers Agathaggelos Triantafyllou, Ludwig Thiersch and Filippos Margaritis, replaced in 1855 -after his retirement- by Nikiforos Lytras, who became close friends with the young Gyzis. It is said that it was Lytras who urged Gyzis to continue with his studies at the  Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich from from June 1865. Before this was possible many things had to be settled first. The young artist was deprived of a fortune that would allow him to move abroad, if it wasn't for a charity of the of the church to assist him encouraged by another man that foresaw the talent of the young artist, the art fanatic Nikolaos Nazos, who also added his funding to this of the church to support Gyzis.

His first teachers in Munich were Ansouts Hermann (Hermann Anschütz) and Alexander Wagner (Alexander Wagner), while in 1868 -again with the encouragement of Lytras -was admitted to the laboratory of Karl von Piloty, a famous teacher with a significant personal focus on multifaceted historical paintings. Nevertheless Piloty had the reputation of an excellent teacher that didn't force this students to replicate what he did, but to perfect their design and enrich colour ranges, otherwise leaving room for personal expression and development to them. 

Actually, the marathon of recognition begins on 1870 for Gyzis, with so many awards as many nominations and a glimpse of financial independence from his donors and protectors. In 1872 he returns to Greece temporarily, setting up his atelier in the centre of Athens, where he remained nearly a year and a half strolling around the city and travelling around the country very often in search fro the Greek representative types of face, body, stature. Next, he travels to Asia Minor along with Lytras in search of similar studies, collecting important material. In that period discounted original designs with extreme stunts of Anatolia; all of these paintings are rare in light, colour, and realistic expression. Then he travels to Tinos and Megara -where he paints a series of projects, and for a few months he resides in Smyrni (Izmir). Disappointed by the prevailing conditions in Greece in May 1874 he departs from Athens, having  a heavy load of experience and pictures in his artistic baggage, and returned to Munich, where he lived almost continuously until the end of his life. In 1876, he travelled along with Nikiforos Lytras in Paris, and one year later married Artemis  Nazou, daughter of his patron, who gave birth to their four daughters. The course worthy of going to Germany, participates in the International Art Exhibition in Munich in 1879 not only as a painter but also as a member of the jury, and in 1880 was named an honorary member of the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and in 1888 was elected professor at same institution. In Germany hailed as few artists of his time. 1895, last visited Greece. In 1898 the German government buys many of his paintings to the National Gallery, and the artist working on a painting entitled "The Apotheosis of Bavaria," so states in a letter "I would love to create the apotheosis of Greece, but I cannot carry this burden alone, since most people who claim they work for its apotheosis, they really strip Greece bare”.

Contracting leukemia he died in Munich on 1901. It is said that an unfinished letter was recovered after his death, concluding at the phrase “Well, let us never give up hope and chase happiness in every aspect of our lives”. He was buried in the cemetery of Nord-fidhof in Munich, and as an homage the sculptor Heinrich Waderé crafted the grave's monument, his friend and well-known German painter Franzvon Lenbach  sketched him on the deathbed, while Kostis Palamas, the national poet of Greece wrote the poem "In the tomb of Nicholas Gyzis"..

On his works

Nikolaos Gyzis is one of the most important representatives of the academic realism of the late 19th century, belonging, in the somewhat more conservative than he ever was, art scene of the "Munich School". Even if the higher of the German critics of the era called him “more german than the Germans”, his paintings convey the colours, smells and images of the East and Greece inj a manner no other painter portrayed with such vividness and completeness. In the case of Nikolaos Gyzis, even the most suspicious the art lover will understand that the term "academic realism" is -so to speak- incompatible in the manic commitment to a rational commitment to the project accuracy and rigor of chiaroscuro, since the word "academic" nowadays is poorly understood as similar to the word “classic” in form and style: his works are all alive, have depth found to few artists of his time and even after him, so intense, that few has managed to combine realism and idealism with symbolist elements in an excellent manner. Let “academic” in the case of Gyzis remind us of the ancient Athens Academy, when the word really meant eclectic and not simply classical with a sip of conservatism to taste!

The work of Nikolaos Gizis divided into three periods: the "German"-which covers the first seven years of flight in Germany, the "idealist," starting from March 1876, when the author first tackled the great allegorical work, the panel "Art and spirits," and, ten years later, in 1886 started what many call the "Neo-idealistic" Gizis period, when the painter studies the life and spirit of the ancient and subordinate to a Platonic philosophical approach and the quest for eternal beauty. Furthermore, from 1890 onwards he is sketching / designing series of signs and posters at the relevant orders, which was also recognized as both art and a boost in graphic arts. Religious person, with strong existential quests, turned at the end of the path to metaphysical and allegorical scenes. The dominant element of his so-called "religious" is the struggle of good over evil and the final victory of Good.

Art Nouveau style and its era

A largely disparate movement that developed in the late 19th century until the early 20th century, the Art Nouveau (which means "New Art" written in french) as it is commonly known-and even worldwide affected every aspect of aesthetics in a catalytic grade. Despite the universal acceptance of the French term, the German name of the movement "Jugendstil" and Austrian "Secession" is equally acceptable, while other names previously received are remarkable more for historic reference: "Stile Liberty" was called in Italy, "Modern style "and, later, when modernism prevailed," Early Modernism "in America," Modernism "in Spain. Additionally, he was named «stile floreale»-while the actual style was already in bloom- a title deriving from the main decorative element, the curved undulating line, which often develops as a stylized flower and its sublime symbolisms. With this line, the picture evolves the surface, in her own space, beyond the rules of Renaissance perspective.

~by Stavros Muronides & Paris Kapralos

As the Art Nouveau movement occurred mainly in the decoration and architecture, but touched all areas of artistic expression and influenced subsequent trends in modern art, it is to be considered a style began to take shape in late 1880, although its edges are placed between 1892 and 1902. After 1905 we find limited and individual paradigms of the style. The name "Art Nouveau" was coined by art critics in Belgium and later became the name of Paris known gallery Maison de l'Art Nouveau, under the direction of Siegfried «Samuel» Bing, a German collector and art dealer who helped in its introduction. In the period from 1896 to 1902, Bing has presented in his gallery paintings, sculptures, vases, jewelry, pottery, stained glass, textiles and furniture. He orders for paintings to French painters Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Edvard Munch, Paul Signac, Felix Vallotton, vases designed by Emile Gallé, jewelry of Rene Lalique, fabric designed by William Morris, sculptures of Auguste Rodin sculptures and Belgians Georges Minne and Constantin Meunier, interior decoration of Henry van de Velde and posters of Aubrey Beardsley. The Bing often gave to his friend and collaborator of Louis Comfort Tiffany ceramic works by other artists. But catalytic role in the development of Art Nouveau that is played by the International Exhibition of 1900 in Paris, where innovative new style spread internationally and won.

Key features of the movement is the sophistication of form, concerning mainly patterns and elements drawn from nature and close association with the movement of Symbolism. The Art Nouveau associated with Japanese and Gothic art, and Japanese art offered imitation of natural forms and the search for complex motifs. The availability of artists to abolish distances between different forms of art, which they try to unify was another characteristic of Art Nouveau. In architecture and the applied arts, the style of Art Nouveau borrowed several elements from the art of the Victorian era, while adding modern ideas in more abstract elements of Baroque style. The new artistic features of Art Nouveau that is prepared for the later avant-garde movements of the 20th century, such as the Art Deco, expressionism, cubism and surrealism.

In architecture, the new movement confronted in eclecticism. With structural rationality and honesty in construction, decoration renunciation of "historical" styles, imitation plant, animal and geometric motifs and further emphasis on the curve, and the lack of free asymmetrical lines indicate concern and searching (organic forms) as the main features, birth architectures very different, and in some cases, highly original. With key representatives Émile André, August Endel, Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926), Victor Horta (1861-1947), Josef Hoffmann (1870-1956), Hector Guimard (1867-1942), Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928) and Louis Sullivan (1856-1924), in Greece formalities are few and fragmented and there are few examples where developing style of shaping unchanged in one building. However, in Thessaloniki in the early last century built excellent examples of the movement. The most representative example is the Casa Bianca, Mehmet Kapantzis the mansion, the mansion Kapantzis Ahmed, the house Modiano. Thessaloniki and Istanbul serve as role models for other cities in northern Greece, such as Kavala, Florina etc. The Art Nouveau began to appear in the residential architecture of the Athenian center, the facades of buildings with decorations naturalistic settings. Example of the first year is the Kapitsala house, the building on the corner of Themistocles and Nikitara, architect N. Nikolaidis.

Furniture and Objects
Many pieces of furniture designed even today along the lines of the style in focus, is -as a matter of fact- crucially influenced by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Renowned for his chairs with extremely high back and glossy black lacquer, still finds imitators and innovators. Moreover, large furniture based on curved shapes, and covered by stylized floral fabrics is another characteristic of the style. Major designers such as Victor Horta, Henry Van der Velde, Emile Galli and Louis Marjorelle, designed furniture with atonal, free-flowing lines and curves, with moire patterns, and very often nested or formed a female figure or a natural pattern. The most frequently used motifs include exquisite designs and grape vines, flowers and ivy. This furniture is generally made of walnut or mahogany, while sometimes used oak.

Art Nouveau in Greece
Works of Art Nouveau can be found even in Greece, but very little belong to the actual era; most belong to the "style",  and are not to be considered antiques of this particular era. They often include elements only of Art Nouveau, and do not fall into entirely to the style. Further misunderstandings occur frequently: every stained glass lamp with elements Art Nouveau, which may be a copy of an actual Art Nouveau original lamp  is not necessarily “Art Nouveau”, and is not entitled to be called "Tiffany's", as beautiful or special they are. However, it is worth noting that in Greece you can find exceptional quality and style era Art Nouveau objects by mixing Art Deco elements that the French collectors do not appreciate much, despite the fact that it is very impressive. So often in our country are exceptional antiques, real opportunities for Greeks who appreciate this era and its objects.

"Avli" | A yard of good taste -in every extent

OUR presence in Kallithea, Chalkidiki for the opening of the summer branch of Antiques House led us -among other things- to the tastefull discovery of an ever popular restaurant specialized in creative Greek cuisine called “Avli” (which means yard in Greek). At the heart of Kallithea, one of  the most beautiful destination amidst the popular area of Kassandra, Chalkidiki in Northern Greece, Avli is not only an adored spot of the locals, but also an excellent choice for the tourists and visitors to taste greek food at its best.

Through traditional recipees and modern renovations of the local dishes, the young portoguese chef  Bruno Braga introduces an excellent menu which combines elements standard to the Mediterranean diet with Greek classic ingredients such as fish and red meat mixed and cooked with spices and herbs to deliver minute yer strong aromas, the result being so delicate that's almost impossible to abstain once you visit the restaurant once.
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It would be a pity not to mention the comprehensive and extent wine list, sporting several greek etiquettes, and the cellar, which you should take our advice and pay a visit to.

In addition, the distinct interior of “Avli” will certainly grasp on you, imposing a relaxed yet dominant attitude and feeling. Earthly materials, such as natural clay  textures with the ever white shades found in Greek islands create an environment of sheer beauty. Your experience will be complimented by a visit to the premises where you'll find some of the rare and excellent antiques, impressive and significant both classic and contemporary Greek as well as European artworks within the branch of “Antiques House” next door to this marvelous place. A must visit if you find yourself in Kallithea!

                                                                                -Paris Kapralos

Tips
Though Avli is not a “reserved only” place, be advised to call them, especially on the weekends and for large companies.

Avli tavern
27, Megalou Alexandrou Str., Kallithea, Chalkidiki, 63077, Greece
For Reservations call: (0030)2374024224

About :: Arts & Antiques

A few words about this blog. This the blog of "Arts & Antiques" magazine which is printed and circulated bimonthly in the city of Thessaloniki; a review on arts and antiques market, as well as a step for artists, collectors and the relative ecosystem to discuss and communicate their concerns, quests, work, and to acquire a broader pesrspective on the aforementioned sectors in the northern part of Greece. On the other hand Arts&Antiques magazine informs the general public on our activities of Myrό Gallery and Antiques House, as well as other initiatives we take up. This blog is a kind of repository for all this material within the vastness of the web. Also, now that we have equipped it with an english version, a mean to communicate its content not only with greek speakers. "Curator" (layout and article editor and -in most cases- writer) for both this blog and the printed edition is Paris Kapralos. 

Our efforts in all our initiatives are quite young; thus we welcome any comment, suggestion or remark you may come up with while reading our articles or by observing our actions and business practices. Consider yourself encouraged to contact us directly at myro.thessaloniki@gmail.com. 

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