In 1975, Aris Konstantinidis published the – now rare – book Elements of self-knowledge: Towards a true architecture. In this publication of exceptional merit, that includes photographs, drawings and notes by the well-known architect, Mykonos and other islands of the Cyclades take pride of place. Konstantinidis accompanies his photographs (taken between 1938 and 1973) with short texts that highlight the timeless value of anonymous architecture. “How certain buildings, in the contemporary Greek landscape, are made to measure on the trace of the “ancient” monument,” he writes of the Dovecotes of Mykonos, which he photographs in 1938.
Adding that “balanced design” of these buildings “brings out a genuine and spontaneous plastic instinct, a wise construction experience”. A little further on, in a note accompanying a (1947) photograph of Panagia Paraportiani, we read: “How a love of life is preserved, where every day the human hand caresses, with the whitewash, the walls, the ledges, the steps, in every building. So that it all, bit by bit, with the new coat covering the previous one, takes on a skin, warm and smooth, like that of the human body, and where one can lean against it, sensing it, also, through its breath”. In 1960, inspired by another photograph of the landscape of Mykonos, he points out that, although, from antiquity, all buildings in Greek architecture were coloured always in the same (earthy) shades, the Cycladic islands stand as the sole exception. In the Cyclades, “whitewash (that which only “washes”) dominates absolutely and where, however, very often, the domes and cupolas, in churches and chapels, are painted (on the outside) red, or blue, sometimes, in indigo, that is”. And on a photograph taken in Andros, in 1957, he does not fail to stress the role of the Greek light, “that gives every built surface such a glowing aspect” 1 .
Marianna Lourba has a clear gaze, a keen eye and, most of all, a poetic outlook. What is interesting in her compositions is that she doesn’t conceal the reference to their origins. On the contrary, she exposes the cracks, the flaking and the corrosion of the whitewash, the “skin” of the building devoured by the sun. In this way, by enhancing the sense of touch, she comes to confirm Konstantinidis’ view, who argues that these whitewashed buildings are not mere “constructions”, but “living organisms, that have emerged from within the human gut”. Indirectly, at the very least, Lourba’s compositions keep the sense of the “ancient” building/monument alive, conveying the traces of its creators and the people who maintain and look after it.
Comprised of frugal lines, Marianna Lourba’s works contain the minimalism of Cycladic idols and the abstractive – and profoundly sensual – painting compositions of Yiannis Moralis, as well as Michalis Katzourakis’ inventive use of photography. If you take a careful look at her compositions, you will see before you, suddenly, the physical attributes of a Cycladic idol, its legs, shoulders and distinctive curves, through which you also discover the forms, rhythms and shading that we come across in anonymous Cycladic architecture. With titles that refer to the sea, the Greek summer, the Odyssey and mythology, such as “Nisaea” (one of the Nereid nymphs that ruled over the islands), “Lethe”, “Circe”, and “Glykeron faos” (“My sweet light”, as an emotional Penelope addresses her son, Telemachus), Lourba’s works bear within them the “divine meaning” that was ascribed to the stones, the pebbles, by the fishermen and farmers of the Cyclades 2,000 years ago. 2
Keeping always in mind the words of Odysseas Elytis, who understands the landscape as the “projection of the soul of a people upon matter” and not “merely a sum of land, plants and waters”, we conclude that, deep down and in a strange way, Marianna Lourba’s minimalist compositions are, in fact, figurative. Which is why they refer, ultimately, to “a strictly grammatical language”, to “an orthography where every omega, every upsilon, every accent, every cedilla, is nothing but a cove, a slope, a vertical rock face over the curve of a boat’s stern, rippling vineyards, church lintels, smudges of white or red, here and there, from dovecotes and potted geraniums” 3 .
Christoforos Marinos
Art historian and curator
1 Aris Konstantinidis, Elements of self-knowledge: Towards a true architecture, Athens 1975. The excerpts are taken from pages 305, 315 and 302.
2 Julian Bell, Mirror of the World. A New History of Art, Greek edition, trans. Giorgos Lambrakos, Eleanna Panagou, Academic editor: Κωνσταντίνος Ιωαννίδης Konstantinos Ioannidis, Metaichmio, Athens 2008, p. 27-28.
3 Odysseas Elytis, Things Public and Private, Ikaros, Athens 1990, p. 8-9.