56. 56AR Yiannis Tsarouchis (Greek, 1910-1989) Le café de Mavrokefalos signé en grec (en bas à droite) huile sur toile 73 x 100cm (28 3/4 x 39 3/8in). Peint en 1971. signed in Greek (lower right) oil on canvas Provenance Kokkas collection, Athens. Private collection, Athens. Expositions Ioannina / Xanthi / Rhodes, Techni Poliouchos, travelling group exhibition, Society for the Study of the Visual Arts - Ministry of the Interior, Public Administration and Decentralization, 2003-2004 (illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, p. 31). Littérature E. Florou, Tsarouchis – Painting, doctoral dissertation, Athens 1989, pp. 21, 108 (mentioned), p. 261 (listed), fig. 794. Yannis Tsarouchis (1910-1989) Painting, Yannis Tsarouchis Foundation, Athens 1990, no. 253 (illustrated). E. Florou, Yannis Tsarouchis, his Painting and his Era, Nea Synora - A.A. Livanis editions, Athens 1999, no. 946, pp. xxxiii, 127 (mentioned), 283 (catalogued). Dimotiki Icho newspaper, no. 4, December 2003, p. 16 (illustrated). Y. Bolis, Yannis Tsarouchis, Contemporary Greek Artists series, Ta Nea editions, Athens 2009, pp. 110-111 (illustrated). With penetrating realism, Tsarouchis captured the charming neoclassical façade of the Mavrokefalos coffeehouse1 on Panepistimiou St—a traditional Athens establishment frequented mainly by sailors and soldiers—in all its austere simplicity and noble restraint, conveying a sense of monumentality and timeless order. By focusing on rhythmical verticality, geometric purity of form, accuracy of design, compositional balance and stark juxtaposition of light and dark areas, the painter sought to underline, typify and ultimately mythologise the folksiness and 'Greekness' of his subject, investing it with a poetic aura and inner mystery that recalls the enigmatic façades of Giorgio de Chirico (compare The enigma of the hour, 1910). The foreground figures, set against a flat monochromatic backdrop interrupted by pronounced vertical elements—a typical Hellenistic-Roman layout also evident in Byzantine church decoration, shadow-puppet folklore, and Theofilos's compositions—seem perfectly integrated into their surrounding space, imbuing the picture with a meditative feel and suggesting balance between the natural and the manmade. This subtle dialogue of monumental form and human scale creates a lyrically interpretative composition, a tranquil world of spiritual purity and shared humanity. "I first painted the Mavrokefalos coffeehouse in Paris around Christmas of 1950 from a small forgotten sketch of mine. I painted it twice. Once on a Christmas card, which I sent to Teriade, and a second larger one, which I sent to London with Elytis to be sold to an acquaintance of mine. The fact that I painted figures that did not dominate the painting with their size doesn't mean that my main concern was not finding the right proportions for the human figures in relation to their environment. The human presence in any work of mine is always the main subject no matter how small the figures are. The abstract harmony of a painting has never obliged me to neglect the human or humanistic element... All these coffeehouses took me a long time to make. I entered another world, both spiritually and pictorially."2 "To abandon drawing from models in the light of the studio in order to paint outdoors under the glare of the Greek sun and the shadows it casts, was for me an extreme departure. I hesitated to accept chiaroscuro with all its consequences because I feared that the pure structure of colours on canvas might be harmed. On the day I decided to abandon the lyrical and mystical interpretation of the world in order to discipline myself to see the exterior world objectively and narrowly, I felt as though my eyes had undergone an operation."3 (Compare Y. Tsarouchis, Small coffee house in Athens / Kafeneion Mavrokefalou, Bonhams Greek Sale, November 25, 2014, lot 53). A cornerstone of urban genre, the traditional Greek coffee shop has always been a perfect place for philosophising and exchanging views on current events. Moreover, this engaging theme offered the artist the opportunity to express his love for the neoclassical architectural style. "I was born in Piraeus in a neoclassical building and raised in two others, also neoclassical houses in Piraeus. For me, home meant only a neoclassical building. Later, when they started tearing them down one by one, I felt my life was being dismantled."4 1 Tsarouchis also produced evocative renditions of the 'Neon' and 'Parthenon' coffee shops in the Omonoia Square district. 2 Y. Tsarouchis, "Some Thoughts on my Works" [in Greek], The Greek Painters, vol. II, 20th Century, Melissa editions, Athens 1975, pp. 298-299; Yannis Tsarouchis-Painting [in Greek], Yannis Tsarouchis Foundation, Athens 1990, p. 51; N. Grypari, A. Szymczyk ed., Yannis Tsarouchis Dancing in Real Life, exhibition catalogue, Chicago 2021, p. 188. 3 Y. Tsarouchis, "Notes and Speculations", Greek Heritage, the American Quarterly of Greek Culture, vol. I, no. 2, spring 1964, pp. 94-95. 4 Preface to S. Skopelitis, Neoclassical buildings of Athens and Piraeus [in Greek], Dodoni editions, Athens 1975.