044 Β - Stones drawn by Yiannis Ritsos

ALMOST ROUND PEBBLE with four figures, three women and a man, painted on it. From his childhood years, when he was 6-7 years old, Yiannis Ritsos liked to paint on any surface that inspired him (paper or wall). During his exile in Gyaros, he started painting on stones. Stones, a compact and solid material, provoked him that feeling of stability inherent in the material and reminded him of ancient Greek sculptures. Without a chisel, just by shading, he emphasized their special characteristics and the curves that had been created either by the sea or by varying weather conditions. He made female or male faces or whole human bodies. These faces and bodies were always young and beuatiful, with an ancient beauty inspired by classical antiquity or the Minoan civilization. For Ritsos, the depiction of beauty and love reflected vitality and was a form of resistance to the oppression, gloom and ugliness, literal and metaphorical, of the dictatorship era (1967-1974).

Donor: Evangelos Arfanis