Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika (Greek, 1906-1994) Shutters I signed 'K.GHIKA' (lower center) oil on cardboard 34 x 27 cm. Painted c. 1927. Footnotes: Provenance G. Isaias collection, Athens. Nia Stratos collection, Athens. Exhibited Athens, Stratigopoulou Gallery, Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture by N. Hadji-kyriakos Ghika and Michael Tombros, May 1-31, 1928, no. 15 (listed in the exhibition catalogue, p. 4). Athens, National Gallery - Alexandros Soutzos Museum, Ghika, May 1973 (not included in the exhibition catalogue). Athens, To Trito Mati Gallery, Nikos Hadjikyriakos Ghika, 1st Retrospective Exhibition 1921-1934, May 11 - July 3, 1977. Literature Cahiers d'Art, Paris, no. 6, 1927, p. 217 (illustrated). To Trito Mati Gallery Bulletin, no. 1, May 1977, p. 21, no. 49 (catalogued and illustrated). N. Petsalis-Diomidis, N. Hadjikyriakos-Ghika, Catalogue Raisonné 1921-1940, Athens 1979, no. 52, pp. 238 (listed), 130 (catalogued and illustrated). J.P. de Rycke, N.P. Paissios, Ghika and the Avant-Garde in Interwar Europe, Benaki Museum - N.H. Ghika Gallery, Ephesos editions, Athens 2004, pp. 48, 51 (discussed), fig. 20, p. 53 (illustrated). E. Mystakas, Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika and Space in his Painting, doctoral dissertation, Athens, 2005, p. 148 (discussed), fig. 13, p. 308 (catalogued), p. 150 (illustrated). K.C. Valkana, Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika, His Painting Oeuvre, Benaki Museum, Athens 2011, p. 53 (discussed), fig. 38, p. 51 (illustrated). Echoing de Chirico's metaphysical spaces and Matisse's psychologically acute interiors, this historic 1927 Ghika shows a window view from the artist's family home in Athens at 25 Omirou Street, which he visited regularly while residing permanently in Paris since 1923. Ghika, who had recently given up portraiture, nude and landscape painting to concentrate on interior and studio views in the spirit of the early 20th century avant-garde, focuses here on the interplay of volumes and planes that look intensified by the oblique evening light. This pronounced schematization of form accompanied by an overall feeling of naiveté is greatly indebted to the proto-renaissance primitive styles he had recently discovered during his travels in Italy, while pointing to the post-Cubist trends, which he was to become increasingly associated with. As noted by art critic Maurice Raynal in 1927, 'Ghika belongs to the group of artists who, while adhering to the tenets of Cubism are now attempting to expand them, without adulterating them with sentimental or literary pretexts...From his Greek origins he retains a fondness for light and architecture.'1 1 See J.-P. De Rycke - N. Paisios, Ghika and Avant-garde in Interwar Europe, Benaki Museum - N. H. Ghika Gallery, Efesos editions, Athens 2004, pp. 199, 201. This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: AR AR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com