Volume L, No 3, July-September 2012 - Ministry of Foreign Affairs

working dough for bread, ploughing, etc.), is repeated
after thousands of years in the expressive
density of naive ceramic compositions by Demetrakis
Gerokostas or the painterly figures by Stass
Paraskos, recorded in static flatness and reduced to
hieratic, featureless entities. In the work of Nikos
Charalambides, a Tanagra type of figurine from
Amathus (310-30 B.C.), probably an Aphrodite,
is depicted next to Marcel Duchamp, in an oeuvre
that sweeps away the dividing lines between space
and time, blurring Hellenistic art with the 20 th century
avant-garde artistic genres. The tethrippon
(chariot drawn by four horses) of the Cypro-Archaic
I-II (650-480 B.C.) from the Sanctuary of Apollo
Hylates at Kourion becomes an organic part of the
sculptural installation by Maria Loizidou, whose
four horses in mixed media represent a visual metonymy
of the stifled speech (ά-λογον) in estranging
modern metropolitan societies.
The 13 th century icon of Saint Mamas, from Amiantos,
is juxtaposed with the emblematic reduction
of the ‘White Saint’ by Angelos Makrides, which
schematically outlines a half-length, frontal depiction
of any saint’s figure, while the relief ornamentation
of this icon, with repetitive geometrical patterns,
is reproduced in the drawing of Antonis Neophytou,
executed in gesso and plastic and engraved
on silver-plated copper, in a process evocative of
the Byzantine technique and the ceremonial rituals
associated with Orthodox icon decoration.
According to Dr Maria Hadjicosti, Director of
the Department of Antiquities, which gave permission
for the display of all the antiquities as
requested by the curator of the exhibition, “It is
very interesting that the same ideas and the same
artistic expressions in the objects of our ancient
history reappear today. The exhibition proves that
cultural life in Cyprus has continued throughout
history.” Ms Catherine Nikita, Director of the
Evagoras Lanitis Centre, remarked that “due to
the materialisation of Dr Nadia Anaxagorou’s
concept, it is the first time that we have shown
such a large number of objects from antiquity and
the Byzantine period together with modern objects,
covering different phases of Cypriot artistic
creation.” Last but not least, the Mayor of Lemesos,
Mr Andreas Christou, stressed that “this exhibition
marks a culmination in the pioneering
contribution of the Municipality of Lemesos in
the field of visual arts.”
An unguentarium of plain white ware of the Roman period (2 nd -3 rd c. A.D.), from Kourion, Ayios Ermogenis, 12.5 cm., placed in the cube
of Theodoulos Gregoriou, Cells IV, cement, minerals, copper, oxide and transparent mirror, 75x75x84 cm.
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