ABSTRACTS #4

Art History [Istoria tis Technis] journal

corpus

Nicolas Calas and Chess: Art as Play, Play as Art

Irini Marinaki

This paper highlights Nicolas Calas’s (1907-1988) ideas on play and games as cultural constants and as key conceptual tools for his theory and practice, as evidenced in his collaboration with André Breton for the 1944-45 Imagery of Chess exhibition, held at the Julien Levy (apartment) Gallery in New York. It focuses on Calas’s and Breton’s Wine Glass Chess Set and Board along with their jointly written aphorisms entitled Profanation: A Game of Chess, which were exhibited at the chess-oriented show. Furthermore, it discusses Calas’s core arguments and writings in relation to play and games and their importance in art and life.

Irini Marinaki is an art historian and a Ph.D. graduate of The London Consortium (University of London). Her Ph.D. thesis entitled Nicolas Calas: Critic and Curator (2012) explored the art criticism, curatorial practice and the lectures of Nicolas Calas, during his residence in the United States. Irini is preparing a book on Nicolas Calas’s work (forthcoming in English in 2016). Her main research interests focus on the history of modern and contemporary art. She is currently working on the unpublished papers of Nicolas Calas on Hieronymus Bosch. [marinakiirinaki@gmail.com]

 

Reclaiming History: The Feminist Perspective of Linda Nochlin

Louisa Avgita

This essay is a critical analysis of the feminist perspective in art history, as it is formed in Linda Nochlin’s work. The essay focuses on the shifts in her discourse and methodology which are reflected on the perception of the concept of “truth”. These shifts are examined within the context of transition from the activist feminist art history of the 1970s, expressed in Nochlin’s texts such as the emblematic Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists? (1971), to the postmodern eclecticism of the 1980s and 1990s.

Louisa Avgita is an art historian, critic and theorist and doctor of City University London. Her research interests focus on issues of contemporary art related to the current curatorial discourses and cultural policies, the art of the Balkan and Eastern European countries, as well as the definition of artistic labour. She is currently a teaching fellow at the University of Ioannina. [lavgita@gmail.com]

 

The Artistic Leagues as ‘Pillars’ of Artistic Activity (1930-1955)

Spyros Moschonas

Τhis paper presents briefly how the Greek artists were organized into professional leagues and groups during the Interwar period and the first years that followed the World War II. It aims to shed light on the role of Artistic Unions in matters regarding visual arts. The Leagues that acted in the Interwar period not only organized numerous exhibitions, which promoted many young artists, but they also developed a strong syndicalist activity. During the post-war era the Leagues contributed to the resuscitation of the art market and the diffusion of modernistic trends. However, they soon disappeared as the artistic and social life returned to normalcy and art galleries began to flourish.

Spyros Moschonas holds a PhD in Art History from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. His research interests focus on Modern Greek art, with particular emphasis on monumental church painting, seascape painting, art market issues and the relationship between the state and artists. [spmosch@hotmail.com]

 

The Influence of Minoan and Mycenaean Art on the Work of the Architect Nikolaos Zoumboulidis

Thanassis Th. Sotiriou – Vassiliki Pliatsika

The Greek architect Nikolaos Zoumboulidis (Sinasos Cappadocia 1888-Athens 1969) designed himself a large number of bank buildings around Greece, or made a major contribution to their architectural design, becoming thus instrumental in the shaping of the image of the public architecture in interwar Greece. Zoumboulidis incorporated morphological and decorative elements from the Minoan and Mycenaean archaeological finds and their reconstructions, which were available in his own time, on some of his public works as well as on a number of the privately-owned buildings he designed. In this paper we pinpoint and analyse the Mycenaean and Minoan elements of Zoumboulidis’ architectural work tracing the sources of his inspiration and assessing this particular line of his work in the broader setting of the reception of Minoan and Mycenaean antiquities in the first half of the 20^th century.

Thanassis Sotiriou holds a MA in Art History from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and works at the Ministry of Culture, Education and Religious Affairs. His current research interests include the reception of the Minoan and Mycenaean antiquity in twentieth-century art and architecture. [athsotiriou@yahoo.gr]

Vassiliki Pliatsika holds a PhD from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and works at the Ministry of Culture, Education and Religious Affairs. She is particularly interested, among other things, in the reception of Greek antiquity in twentieth-century applied arts. [vassilikipliatsika@gmail.com]

xenia

Picasso’s Guernica

T. J. Clark

A transcript of the lecture given at the amphitheatre of the Benaki Museum, on Saturday 7 December 2013, at the invitation of the Society of Greek Art Historians (EEIT). Translated into Greek by Annie Malama.

T. J. Clark is a Professor Emeritus of Art History at the University of California, Berkeley.

opinio

Benjamin, No More! The New Edition of Walter Benjamin‘s Essay “The Work of Art in the Age of its Mechanical Reproducibility”

Otto Karl Werckmeister

This essay was first published as “Benjamin, sonst nichts. Zur Neuausgabe von Benjamins Kunstwerk-Essay” in Das Argument 309, 56, (4), 2014, pp. 531-536. Translated into Greek by Titina Kornezou.

Otto Karl Werckmeister is a Professor Emeritus of Art History at the Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.

data

Theophilos as an Icon-painter and the Six Icons Published in the Catalogue to the Exhibition “Hommage à Tériade” (Telloglion Foundation, Thessaloniki)

Maria G. Moschou

This paper presents evidence on Theophilos Hadjimichail’s icon-painting activity in order to criticize the publication of six portable icons in the catalogue to the exhibition “Hommage à Tériade” that was held at the Telloglion Foundation in Thessaloniki (14/11/2014-19/4/2015). The commonly held view that the artist’s icon-painting output is extremely limited is challenged, and the presentation of six icons in the exhibition catalogue as a body of rare early works by Theophilos is critically examined. Discussing chronological issues and stylistic features against the background of other icons painted by the artist, the information provided on the provenance of the icons and in the catalogue entries is critically reviewed, taking also into account information accompanying the exhibited works. It concludes by arguing that the assumption that they have all been painted by Theophilos is highly questionable.

Maria G. Moschou holds a PhD in Art History from the Department of Communication and Mass Media at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Her research interests focus on art history and critical theory in the twentieth century, with an emphasis on the reception of folk art and the illustrated printed matter of popular culture. [moschoumaria@yahoo.com]