Yiannis Tsarouchis (Greek, 1910-1989)Automne, 1971 signé en grec et daté '71' (en bas à droite)huile sur toile60 x 48.5cm (23 5/8 x 19 1/8in).Peint en 1971.signed in Greek and dated (lower right) oil on canvasFootnotes:ProvenanceAthens Art Gallery collection, Athens. Private collection, Athens. LittératureZygos art magazine, no. 4, September-October 1973, p. 41 (illustrated).Kathimerini daily, January 19, 1975, p. 10 (illustrated).Nea Epicheirisis, Business Administration Bulletin, vol. 17, no. 160, May 1978, p. 101/513 (illustrated).E. Florou, Tsarouchis - Painting, (doctoral dissertation), vol. 1, Athens 1989, no. 787, p. 261 (catalogued).E. Florou, Yannis Tsarouchis, his Painting and his Era, Nea Synora - A.A. Livanis editions, Athens 1989, no. 939, p. 283 (catalogued).Epiphaneia, Pierides Art Gallery - Kinisis Business Administration Bulletin edition, Athens 1992, p. 71 (illustrated).Silently immobile in shallow space like a precious butterfly pressed under glass, Tsarouchis's personification of autumn celebrates the purely pictorial realisation of a symbol's everlasting value. Striking immediacy, honesty of representation and genuineness of character build up an ideal world liberated from the fleeting moment. Painted in earthy colours, highlighted by solid outlines and set against a dark background reminiscent of many works by Giovanni Bellini (compare Pieta with Four Angels, 1470-1475, Pinacoteca Comunale, Rimini), the young sitter, the artist's niece Korina Koutouzi, conveys a striking immediacy and resilient allure, echoing Byzantine icons or Fayum1 and Renaissance portraits.Tsarouchis recalls: 'An issue that concerned me among other symbolisms was the age-old subject of the four seasons. Around 1966, a collector commissioned me to paint this long studied theme. I painted four figures—two couples—on a single canvas between 1968 and 1969 in Paris where I lived and worked at the time. Teriade saw this work and commissioned the Four Seasons on four separate canvases, with my nieces Korina and Despina as models. Despina as Spring and Winter, and Korina as Summer and Autumn.'2 Discussing lot 75 in a 1975 article accompanied by a photograph of the painting, art critic M. Karavia noted that 'after a quick look at Tsarouchis's portraits in Athens it is evident that his Renaissance related inquiries, which started in 1967, continue to preoccupy him to this day. His harking back to the monochromatic—often black—backdrops of the Flemish masters, as is the case with this painting, or to Bellini's portraiture became his own means of expression.'3 'The same way Tsarouchis glorifies the light in Theofilos's paintings, he is enchanted by the darkness of Caravaggio. When he paints on black backgrounds, in the vein of the Italian master, he does not rely on an interplay of light and shadow to build up form but, rather, he illuminates his figures from within according to the Byzantine tradition.'4 Featuring solid outlines, lively brushwork, bold application of paint and an utterly captivating non-finito effect,5 this allegorical portrait conveys a sense of reserved authority and lofty stature, with the artist—who was thoroughly familiar with the European artistic tradition—employing established art historical conventions from disparate historical eras to elevate his model to a mythical level. Tsarouchis himself said that when he painted the personifications of the four seasons he was influenced by the 17th and 18th century old master paintings he saw in French museums, blending age-old techniques with his personal artistic visions.6 'Tsarouchis draws on allegory—a rhetorical mode used as a cryptic form of artistic expression in Italian Renaissance and Baroque paintings—not simply so as to give an aesthetic dimension to an abstract concept through a specific form, but rather to make the most of its narrative and image-making abilities. As a typical rhetorical scheme of old master paintings, it invests his work with an aura of classicism.'7 As noted by the late Athens National Gallery Director M. Lambraki-Plaka, 'Tsarouchis's figures managed to survive the iconoclastic crusade of modern art, which never tired of demolishing, distorting or expelling the human form. Tsarouchis did not give in to this negative aesthetic theory, which preached the systematic rejection of the rules of Western tradition. He is one of the few painters who managed to cross the tempestuous 20th century by keeping intact the precious palladium of the human figure. His art is a modern day incarnation of Noah's Arc.'8 1 Realistic and contemplative portraits produced in the Nile Valley during Roman times bearing the marks of an unquestionably Greek style deeply rooted in the Hellenistic School of Alexandria. They kept alive the conventions of naturalistic representation and passed them on to the Byzantine icon painters. Fayum portraiture was a major source of inspiration for Tsarouchis in his effort to reinterpret the age old tradition of Greco-Roman and Byzantine art in a modern and vigorous manner.2 Yannis Tsarouchis Painting, Comments, Yannis Tsarouchis Foundation, Athens 1990, p. x.3 M. Karavia, 'The New Pictorial Face of Yannis Tsarouchis' [in Greek], Kathimerini daily, January 19, 1975, p. 10.4 A. Levidis, 'Herald of Greekness' [in Greek] in Osei Myra, Yannis Tsarouchis 1910-1989, Kastaniotis editions, Athens 1998, p. 274. 5 'Works of art have a way of completing themselves' responded Tsarouchis when someone happened to remark that a painting of his seemed empty or unfinished. See G. Tourkovassilis, 'My Teacher Y. Tsarouchis' [in Greek] in Osei Myra, Yannis Tsarouchis 1910-1989, Kastaniotis editions, Athens 1998, p. 517.6 See Yannis Tsarouchis (1910-1989) Painting, Yannis Tsarouchis Foundation, Athens 1990, p. 85.7 A. Kafetsi, Yannis Tsarouchis - Between East and West, exhibition catalogue, Greek Ministry of Culture, Athens 2000, pp. 21-22.8 M. Lambraki-Plaka, 'Yannis Tsarouchis and the Palladium of Painting' [in Greek] in Osei Myra, Yannis Tsarouchis 1910-1989, Kastaniotis editions, Athens 1998, p. 452.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ARAR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com