By Dean Gregory, to Museum Spotlight Europe (February 2023)
In the last century, American artists seeking solitude abroad in Europe to enrich their creative vision often found themselves in places such as Paris, London, or Rome. Yet, Greece, the cradle of Western civilization, proved equally alluring in cultivating American artistic sensibilities. From Henry Miller and Robert McCabe to Don DeLillo and Gregory Markopoulos, each figure found the landscape informative for their development. In the 21st century, the affinity for all things Greek flourishes on a global stage. Major American artists such as Jeff Koons, Brice Marden, George Condo, and Cy Twombly among others, have contributed to the emergence of a cultural splendor for the world to relish. Discover below the new generation of artists, collectors, and institutions cementing the legacy of Hellenism through the lens of American art.
Hydra and Joannou’s Deste Foundation
As honorary citizens of the island of Hydra, Jeff Koons and Brice Marden exemplify the emergence of the island as a destination for art enthusiasts. The prominent collector Dakis Joannou, an industrialist from Cyprus, serves as the great patron of the scene through his Deste Foundation. Joannou, ranked as one of the top collectors in the world, has solidified a reputation as a loyal, daring, and generous patron to the artists he supports, by making their work accessible to the broader public.
As a physical symbol of Joannou’s honorary patronage, his thrilling yacht “Guilty,” designed by Koons and Ivana Porfiri, arrives every July to initiate the summer arts festival in Greece. The yacht transcends mere function by operating as both a gallery and a piece of art. The interior of the vessel features works by Sarah Morris, David Shrigley, as well as Koons himself.
Moreover, each summer the Deste Foundation entrusts an artist of international acclaim to create a temporary exhibition at the former slaughterhouse of the island. In addition to Koons, who created his Apollo exhibition in the summer of 2022, other American artists such as Doug Aitken, Paul Chan, and Elizabeth Peyton have created installations in this eerie space. The Deste Foundation also features a traditional museum in Athens, which is accessible by taxi or public transportation from the center of the city.
Gagosian Gallery and Museum of Cycladic Art
Brice Marden, born in Bronxville, New York in 1938, has called Hydra home for decades, electing to live part of each year on the island. The Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens, as part of its annual exhibition, “Divine Dialogues,” highlights Marden’s 30 works created on the island. The “Divine Dialogues” series endeavors to juxtapose the work of modern and contemporary masters with antiquities from Ancient Greece. Specifically, works painted on Greek marble, sourced from local quarries, represent the influence of Hellas on the American artist. Furthermore, the revered Gagosian Gallery held an exhibition of the artist’s works in the fall.
Other painters over the years featured both at the Museum of Cycladic Art and the Gagosian gallery include George Condo and Cy Twombly. Twombly spent time living on the island of Crete and traveled extensively throughout Greece, which infused his work with motifs and references to Greco-Roman civilization. Both the museum and gallery are located in central Athens, easily reached by taxi, public transportation, or pedestrian walkways. Admirers of Condo may also visit the nearby Eleni Koroneou Gallery to experience more of the painter’s work.
Theodoros Stamos and The Irascibles
Up the street from the Museum of Cycladic Art in central Athens is the newly refurbished National Art Gallery of Greece. In addition to housing works by El Greco, Picasso, Matisse, and Ghika, the museum features a collection of works by the Greek-American painter Theodoros Stamos. Artists like Stamos, Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock were a part of a group called “The Irascibles” during the 1950’s in New York. The “Irascibles” became significant in art history, marking the time in the Post-World War II period when new and emerging trends in American art supplanted European ones as the new avant-garde. Nonetheless, the works of Stamos are held notably in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA), and the Smithsonian. Further, the National Art Gallery of Greece underwent a transformation, in the recent past giving it a feel of the Pompidou Centre in Paris.
Mark Bradford, Ellsworth Kelly, and The Economou Collection
North of the city center, The George Economou Collection features several esteemed American and international artists. Economou, a shipping tycoon from Athens and a benefactor of the MoMA, graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His collection features works from American artists such as Mark Bradford, Ellsworth Kelly, and Frank Stella. Bradford, a native of Los Angeles, proves particularly interesting in how he utilizes paper and other scavenged street materials in developing oversized wall collages. In the past, The Economou institution also held a Jenny Saville exhibition of the British painter who studied in and found inspiration for her vision in the state of Ohio. The collection is easily reached by taxi or public transportation from the center of the Greek capital.
