Footnotes
A leading figure of Modern Greek art, Alekos Kondopoulos aspired to the creation of a new visual cosmos, a new order of consciousness. In the early 1950s his work began to free itself from the confines of the world of mundane reality and by the end of the decade he was hailed internationally as a pioneer of postwar abstraction. 1

A work of fiery colour and compositional assurance, lot 130 is representative of the artist’s mature style: capacious geometric forms distributed along vertical or horizontal axes (reminiscent of his studies in ancient Greek art) and complemented by free, apparently accidental, but essentially self-controlled brushstrokes. Logical association and expressive thrust, perfect order and pure emotion seem to coexist in a harmonious and creative way. This approach results in a kind of robust architectural structure set in motion while retaining a coherent inner rhythm. “From within the fiery expressionistic surfaces, where colour has devoured shape, something organically structured emerges that contains this blazing expressive thrust in between the sturdy beams of a well-built edifice. Having studied with great passion the ideal proportions and ‘gold mean’ of Ancient Greek art, it was impossible for Kondopoulos to let himself be carried away by a frenzied game of colours deprived of any deeper meaning and contemplation.” 2

1. See H. Kambouridis - G. Levounis, Modern Greek Art, The 20th Century, Athens 1999, pp. 154, 156
2. D. Papastamos, “The Abstract Imagery of Kondopoulos’ Painting” [in Greek] in Alekos Kondopoulos 1905-1975, Aghia Paraskevi Municipal Cultural Center, 1986.