John Craxton




The Studio in Hydra




The Chase

Among the most favorite of Ghika's themes are his familiar possessions and the rooms where he worked or lived. Views of his houses with such objects appear and reappear in his drawings, always seen from a new angle and in a different mood. "It is also somehow due to my laziness", he said to me, "as I go out as little as possible.
And in any case, the objects have their own character, their idiosyncracy , as do the buildings, the figures...".
Still-life compositions or views of other interiors are relatively few among his drawings.

It is an exciting experience to follow the artist's life through his environment painted by himself. Highly finished drawings bring to us views of his first house in Omirou Street or of the small flat in pre-war Paris, while his compositions in pencil of views of the house in Palaiologou Benizelou Street show a stronger painterly attitude. Lively scenes of the construction of the top floor of Kriezotou Street during 1955-56 prove the artist's interest and his involvement in the pioneering interior design of his permanent home. Finally , small details of the noble simplicity of his paternal home in Hydra are complemented by the uniquely abundant aesthetics of the interior of his most recent house in Corfu.

Ghika has also captured both in his drawings and in his paintings the atmosphere of his various studios. In what seem almost like set designs there stand huge easels holding small and large paintings from every period, the vases with brushes, the sculptures, the lamps, the personal objects. All together they seem to compose an image which represents more eloquently than any other depiction the austere aesthetics of the artist's personality.

Ghika's thorough knowledge and unabated interest in ancient Greek art, history, mythology , and poetry are apparent both in his drawings and in his numerous writings. Myths and historical events inspired him in his free allegorical compositions while at the same time pottery , sculpture, and details from ancient Greek art stimulated him to study and creatively render their elements.

Ghika 's multifaceted idiosyncrasy is once again apparent in this category of drawings. A poetic lyricism in works such as the Ancient Poet or the Flute player, Tambourine and Dancer, is found in parallel with a ceremonial approach to the Sacrifice in Isis or the Diianeira holding the Poisoned Chiton, or even with the somehow mocking mood in the Philhellene or the Punishment of Erotideus. There are various references to his sculptural works, which have also undoubtedly revolved around mythological subjects. 

A study for the figure of Nausika, a relatively early work, is shown here; in it the linear analysis is clearly dependent on his tendency to a static idealized representation. In his later studies, such as those for the medallions for the Mythical Lovers (Perseus and Andromeda), the shapely curves produce a dynamic intensity which was eloquently transferred to his relief compositions.

Ancient busts and heads were another subject studied with particular interest by Ghika. His approach is closer to a rather theoretical view. , what seems to have attracted the painter's imagination is the portrayal of personality based on some historical source or literary reference. There is a clear difference underlying Ghika 's approach to the rendering of historical or mythological figures since there is always a translucent coldness which hints at the distance between contemporary and historical figures.


EVITA ARAPOGLOU, GHIKA-DRAWINGS ed. ADAM (excerpt)