42. Yiannis Tsarouchis (Greek, 1910-1989) Épicerie à Mytiline signé en grec et daté '65' (en bas à droite) huile sur toile 89 x 42cm (35 1/16 x 16 9/16in). Peint en 1965. signed in Greek and dated (lower right) oil on canvas Provennace Private collection, London. Littérature Yannis Tsarouchis (1910-1989) Painting, Yannis Tsarouchis Foundation, Athens 1990, no. 316 (illustrated). Yannis Tsarouchis (1910-1989), Eleftherotypia editions, Athens 2009, pp. 118-119 (illustrated). Yannis Tsarouchis Foundation card collection, Athens (illustrated). Yannis Tsarouchis, Dancing in Real Life, Wrightwood 659 Gallery, Chicago 2021, (catalogued, p.228 and illustrated, p. 219). Resonating with echoes of Byzantine art and Pompeian frescoes1, this scrupulous observation of familiar contemporary life is a statement of the artist's resolve in exploring the inner world of Greekness. As noted by poet A. Embeirikos, "when looking at Tsarouchis's work, one has the immediate impression of looking at Greek painting par excellence, more so than in the work of any other Greek painter, with the exception of Theofilos."2 The linear arrangement of figures in the foreground, set against a flat monochromatic backdrop interrupted by pronounced vertical elements, is a typical Hellenistic-Roman layout found in Villa dei Misteri in southern Italy as well as in the Aldobrandini Wedding fresco from the 1st century BC. Moreover, this kind of paratactic design, also evident in Byzantine church decoration and shadow-puppet folklore, is reminiscent of Theofilos's compositions where all scenes seem to exist on one uniform level or plane. In both artists everything is clearly expressed and all visual phenomena are thrust forward to the narrative surface where they receive even illumination in a continuous present.3 Imbued with a stage designer's perception of space, the humble facade of the grocery store is further invested with an aura of classical order, conveying a sense of monumentality and timeless serenity. Its pronounced and rhythmical verticality, purity of form, and juxtaposition of light and dark areas, which was repeated by the artist in his famous pair of Neon coffeehouse paintings, creates a tranquil world of purity, austere beauty, and harmony of form that borders on abstraction. 1 See Y. Tsarouchis's brief assessment of his 1962-1966 period in Yannis Tsarouchis Retrospective 1928-1981 [in Greek], exhibition catalogue, Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art - Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 1981. 2 A. Embeirikos, "The Triumph of Sensuous Painting" [in Greek], Zygos magazine, no. 72-75, November 1961 - February 1962, pp. 11-12. See also "Yannis Tsarouchis", Greek Heritage quarterly, vol. 1, no. 2, Spring 1964, pp. 92-93. 3 In the early 1960s, Tsarouchis paid frequent and lengthy visits to the island of Mytilene, overseeing the construction of the Theofilos Museum in Petra—a testament to his lifelong admiration of the great folk-art painter. See Yannis Tsarouchis Painting, Comments, Yannis Tsarouchis Foundation, Athens 1990, p. ix, no. 285.