3. * AR Spyros Vassiliou (Greek, 1902-1985) Festival, Athènes signé en grec (en bas à droite) technique mixte et feuille d'or sur panneau 24 x 35cm (9 7/16 x 13 3/4in). signed in Greek (lower right) mixed media and gold leaf on board Provenance A gift from the artist to a private collector circa 1960. Bonham's London, The Greek Sale, 1 April 2002, lot 78. Acquired from the above sale and thence by descent to the present owner. Athens celebrating the first Monday of Lent is one of Vassiliou's key subjects, considered to be the quintessence of his work and artistic vision. The Monday of Lent marks the passage from a secular period, that of carnival, to a more ascetic and contemplative one, the forty days before Easter. Through fasting people cleanse themselves of everyday mundane thoughts and contemplate matters of life and death, sacrifice and resurrection. This passage is made easier through the feast of the first day of Lent, which combines sadness with hope, yet with a certainty that hope will prevail. There is a definite Byzantine as well as surrealistic quality to this feast, both being captured by the artist. The city seems to float on a golden carpet. The street sellers with their colourful flowers or balloons, the old-time photographer, the horse carriages, the strolling figures are all carried away by the spirit of the day. The impressionistic diminutive pigments give a flickering, micrographic image of the city. Behind the dark mountain the golden Byzantine sky welcomes the kites, which fly free from their cords like birds. Vassiliou never stops being startled, he does not give up on the young child within him. He treasures memories of his youth and shares them with us as a remedy against oblivion. Even the lower part of the work resembles an old mirror that faded as the years went by. Considering the changes in the city's character, Vassiliou's works were almost prophetic. In "Lights and Shades" he says about the demolition of old houses: "...the salvage remnants of the demolished house laid out on the pavement for sale, at least have something in them to remind us of the human pulse of a city that has lost forever its face and its soul". Vassiliou creates an "enchanted city" with face and soul, which accepts the inevitable with dignity. As Haris Kambouridis has noted: " Vassiliou is a genuine creative artist who combines technical mastery, effective composition, inspirational flair and a talent for self-expression, qualities which have established him as one of the most important Greek artists of this century." (Haris Kambouridis, Craftsmanship and the human scale in the work of Spyros Vassiliou, Zygos magazine, 1983, vol. II Annual, p.60)