Two of Greece’s leading cultural foundations — the Panayiotis & Effie Michelis Foundation and the J. F. Costopoulos Foundation — collaborate for the first time on this exhibition of works by painter Eurydice Costopoulos (1907–1980). The exhibition also pays tribute to her son Yannis Costopoulos, head of Pisteos Bank and later of Alpha Bank, and an early member of the Michelis Foundation’s Board of Trustees.
The painter’s aim was never to align herself with the avant-gardes reaching Greece, however belatedly. Her aim was the joy of making. She painted constantly, and her style matured over time as she developed greater confidence with the brush. The small scale of her paintings, the frequent absence of preparatory drawing, and her use of hardboard as a durable surface all suggest that she worked outdoors.
Her early, tentative compositions depict landscapes, houses, a few scenes with people, women at work, and still lifes with flowers and tools. She later dedicated herself to natural landscapes: Hydra, Mytilini — mainly olive groves — Molyvos, Kavouri, the Cyclades, Ypati, Dafni, the National Garden, the Acropolis. She painted where the green of vegetation meets the ochres of the beaches and the intense blue of the sea.
The works in this exhibition come from private collections, the Alpha Bank Art Collection, and the collection of the J. F. Costopoulos Foundation.
