THROUGH THE WORK OF THE THREE GREAT ARTISTS IS PRESENTED AT THE BENAKI MUSEUM (CENTRAL BUILDING)

From 7 June 2017, art lovers in Athens will be able to enjoy a fascinating retrospective of the lives and work of three important creative figures of the 20th century. The exhibition Ghika, Craxton, Leigh Fermor: Charmed Lives in Greece presents the friendship of three significant men, the artists Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika (1906-1994) and John Craxton (1922-2009) and the writer Patrick Leigh Fermor (1915-2011), from the early years of their acquaintance in the mid-1940s to the end of their lives.

This exhibition gives us an insight into the personalities of Ghika, Craxton and Leigh Fermor, their interrelated work and the magical Greece of their lifetimes. It is dedicated to three great creators who honoured the country that so inspired them through their exceptional oeuvres. Through the display of works of art, extracts from texts, photographs, letters, manuscripts and publications, we follow their relationship and their artistic and literary careers, with their love of Greece always a common denominator. As well as giving a chronological account, the exhibition plays on the theme of the places which inspired them – Hydra, Kardamyli, Crete and Corfu – and where they found hospitable settings to live and create, in addition to their meetings in Athens and London.

In addition to the artworks by N. Hadjikyriakos Ghika and Craxton and the texts by Leigh Fermor, the exhibition includes letters, notes, publications, dedications and rare photographs from the lives of the three artists. The works of art have been borrowed from the Ghika Gallery of the Benaki Musem, the Craxton Estate in London, the A.G. Leventis Gallery in Nicosia,as we well as from many private collections and museums in Greece and abroad.

The exhibition was organized by the the A. G. Leventis Gallery in Nicosia on 23 February, in collaboration with the Benaki Museum in Athens and the Craxton Estate. 

A comprehensive, fully illustrated book edited by Evita Arapoglou has been produced by the A. G. Leventis Foundation and the A. G. Leventis Gallery to accompany the exhibition, available in separate Greek and English editions. 

Exhibition Curators: Evita Arapoglou, Ian Collins, Sir Michael Llewellyn-Smith, Ioanna Moraiti. Exhibition Co-ordinator: Demetra Theodotou Anagnostopoulou.

The exhibition at the Benaki Museum will be open until the 10th of September 2017 and the following year will be presented at the British Museum in London (March-July 2018).