ITHACA REGAINED

GREEK ARTISTS IN NEW YORK

Nassos Daphnis

Untitled, 1947
Watercolor on paper, 15 x 11 inches

Nassos Daphnis was born in 1914 near Sparta, in the village of Krokeai, and emigrated to the United States in 1930. While working as a floral assistant in Manhattan, Daphnis was offered the use of a studio by Michael Lekakis, who had seen some of Daphnis’s drawings.

His early paintings, based on memories of Greece, were naive in style and characterized by a strong feeling for color and form. After his return from serving in World War II, he began to paint surreal landscapes, laying on images of the devastation he had seen with a palette knife.

In time, his shapes grew less tortured and his colors brighter. After a 1950 visit to Greece he experienced the sunlight reflecting off the white houses with such intensity that it appeared to dissolve everything but shape. Geometric shapes in primary colors and black and white took over Daphnis's work.

His work continued to lighten further into the 1980s and ‘90s, and he utilized enamel to obtain the brilliance of his jewel-like palette.