YIANNIS MORALIS (1916-2009) Les orangers
YIANNIS MORALIS (1916-2009)
Les orangers
signé en grec et daté "94" en bas à droite; signé et daté au revers
acrylique sur toile
80 x 80 cm. (31 1/2 x 31 1/2in.)
Peint en 1994.
signed in Greek and dated "94" lower right; signed and dated on the reverse
acrylic on canvas
Provenance
Acquired from the artist by the present owner.
Exhibitions
Athens, Benaki Museum, Yannis Moralis, Private Space, October 26, 2022 - January 8, 2023, no. 55 (illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, p. 61).
Literature
https://bookpress.gr/politismos/eikastika-mousiki/17013 (illustrated).
A symphony of abstract forms that allude to the distilled essence of human presence—possibly a modern-day Nausica playing ball in a luminous orange grove—this enchanting picture is distinguished by poetic schematisation of form, solid compositional structure, and expressive synthesis of opposing curves. As noted by Professor A. Delivorrias, "Moralis's painting is a satiating painting whose freshness delights the troubled soul, whose sensitivity arouses the emotions, whose intellectualism stimulates the mind. His artistic idiom is creatively tested on the experiential reserves of Antiquity, Byzantine past, and Modern Greek vision."1
Reviewing the artist's output from the mid-1990s, art critic H. Kambouridis notes: "Moralis transforms the human body into geometric forms, with the balance tilting neither towards professed intellectual rationalisation nor towards sentimental romanticism. In his new works, the choreography of his idealised figures alludes rather to an outdoor paradisiac life than to austere dialogues in closed spaces."2
True to his Greek heritage, and yet utilizing a formal vocabulary perfectly balanced to the scale of modern sensitivity, Moralis sought to capture the aura of the classical not as a lifeless relic of ancient glory but as a timeless form constantly reborn in the present. By ingeniously balancing lyrical sensitivity and ordered thought, he achieved a modern realisation of the classical ideal: the elimination of the temporary and the initiation to a world of ideal rhythms, where form and spirit reclaim their fragmented wholeness.
1. A. Delivorrias, "Transformations of Greekness in Yannis Moralis' Painting", preface to the Moralis exhibition catalogue, Zoumboulakis Galeries, Athens 1997.
2. H. Kambouridis, "Sensitive Epigrams" [in Greek], Ta Nea newspaper, March 26.3.1997.
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YIANNIS MORALIS (1916-2009)
Les orangers
signé en grec et daté "94" en bas à droite; signé et daté au revers
acrylique sur toile
80 x 80 cm. (31 1/2 x 31 1/2in.)
Peint en 1994.
signed in Greek and dated "94" lower right; signed and dated on the reverse
acrylic on canvas
Provenance
Acquired from the artist by the present owner.
Exhibitions
Athens, Benaki Museum, Yannis Moralis, Private Space, October 26, 2022 - January 8, 2023, no. 55 (illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, p. 61).
Literature
https://bookpress.gr/politismos/eikastika-mousiki/17013 (illustrated).
A symphony of abstract forms that allude to the distilled essence of human presence—possibly a modern-day Nausica playing ball in a luminous orange grove—this enchanting picture is distinguished by poetic schematisation of form, solid compositional structure, and expressive synthesis of opposing curves. As noted by Professor A. Delivorrias, "Moralis's painting is a satiating painting whose freshness delights the troubled soul, whose sensitivity arouses the emotions, whose intellectualism stimulates the mind. His artistic idiom is creatively tested on the experiential reserves of Antiquity, Byzantine past, and Modern Greek vision."1
Reviewing the artist's output from the mid-1990s, art critic H. Kambouridis notes: "Moralis transforms the human body into geometric forms, with the balance tilting neither towards professed intellectual rationalisation nor towards sentimental romanticism. In his new works, the choreography of his idealised figures alludes rather to an outdoor paradisiac life than to austere dialogues in closed spaces."2
True to his Greek heritage, and yet utilizing a formal vocabulary perfectly balanced to the scale of modern sensitivity, Moralis sought to capture the aura of the classical not as a lifeless relic of ancient glory but as a timeless form constantly reborn in the present. By ingeniously balancing lyrical sensitivity and ordered thought, he achieved a modern realisation of the classical ideal: the elimination of the temporary and the initiation to a world of ideal rhythms, where form and spirit reclaim their fragmented wholeness.
1. A. Delivorrias, "Transformations of Greekness in Yannis Moralis' Painting", preface to the Moralis exhibition catalogue, Zoumboulakis Galeries, Athens 1997.
2. H. Kambouridis, "Sensitive Epigrams" [in Greek], Ta Nea newspaper, March 26.3.1997.
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Time, Location
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