Lot 76: Nicholaos Lytras (Greek 1883-1927)

Slope in Parnassos
signed in greek (lower left)
oil on canvas
32 x 37.5 cm. (12 1/2 x 14 3/4 in.)

Considered to be one of the pioneers of 20th Century Greek painting, Nicholaos Lytras sought to liberate Greek art from the constraints of the academic tendencies of the past. After graduating from the Athens School of Fine Arts under his father Nikiforos Lytras, and Georgios Jacobides, he continued his studies in Munich. As a founding member of the "Omada Technis" (Art Group) he worked in the vein of impressionistic perspective.

Lytras' devotion to the observation of nature and an analysis of his sensations before the majesty of the landscape that unfolds before him is evident. Forms are created with pastel colours, applied thickly in a sweeping stroke of the brush capturing the subtle spirituality of the natural environment through the yellowish mountain slopes and the diaphanous sky, without superfluous dramatisation.