Chryssa

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Chryssa Vardea-Mavromichali (Template:Langx; December 31, 1933 – December 23, 2013) was a Greek American artist who worked in a wide variety of media.[1] An American art pioneer in light art and luminist sculpture,[2][3] known for her neon, steel, aluminum and acrylic glass installations,[4][5] she always used the mononym Chryssa professionally. She worked from the mid-1950s in New York City studios and worked since 1992 in the studio she established in Neos Kosmos, Athens, Greece.

Biography

Chryssa was born in Athens[6] into the famous Mavromichalis family from the Mani Peninsula.[7][8][9] Her family, while not rich, was educated and cultured; one of her sisters, who studied medicine, was a friend of the poet and novelist Nikos Kazantzakis.[7][9] Shortly before her birth, Chryssa's father passed away, she was raised by her mother and two older sisters.[10][11]

Chryssa grew up in Nazi-occupied Greece, which she later cites as formative to her art practice. The Greek resistance would write messages on the walls at night, which served as both a critical means for communication to citizens and an early lesson on the power of letters and symbols.[12][13] As a child, she was imprisoned on three separate occasions during the German and Italian occupation.[14]

Chryssa began painting during her teenage years and also studied to be a social worker.[7][9][15] In 1953, on the advice of a Greek art critic, her family sent her to Paris to study at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière where André Breton, Edgard Varèse, and Max Ernst were among her associates and Alberto Giacometti was a visiting professor.[7][9][16][17][18]

In 1954, at age twenty-one, Chryssa sailed for the United States, arrived in New York, and went to San Francisco to study at the California School of Fine Arts.[18][19][20] Returning to New York in 1955, she became a United States citizen and established a studio in the city.[20] April of 1955, Chryssa has her first experience at Times Square, which would become a major influence for her work.[21][22] In the same year, she married fellow artist Jean Varda and moved to Sausalito.[23] The couple separated in 1958 and divorced in 1965.[24][23] Although never an official resident of the Coenties Slip, Chryssa was associated with a group of artists connected by this residence.[25][26] During this time, Chryssa had a relationship with Agnes Martin.[27][28][29][30]

Her image is included in the iconic 1972 poster Some Living American Women Artists by Mary Beth Edelson.[31]

At the age of 79, Chryssa died of heart-related problems, in Athens, Greece, on December 23, 2013.[32]

Major works and milestones

1957–1969

Chryssa's first major work was The Cycladic Books, a series of plaster reliefs which the French art critic Pierre Restany described as having produced "the purified and stylized geometric relief which is characteristic of Cycladic sculpture."[33] According to the American art historian and critic Barbara Rose,[16] The Cycladic Books preceded American minimalism by seventeen years.

Arrow: Homage to Times Square is a large Template:Cvt work in painted cast aluminum.[34] In a 2005 interview in Vouliagmeni, Chryssa said: "I only ever kept one work for more than 15 years in my studio, "The Arrow" – it is now in Albany, in the Rockefeller Collection."[16]

Chryssa's first solo exhibition was mounted at The Guggenheim.[7][17] Times Square Sky is a Template:Cvt in work in neon, aluminum and steel.[35]

Chryssa's work was shown at the Museum of Modern Art in curator Dorothy Canning Miller's Americans 1963 exhibition. The artists represented in the show also included Richard Anuszkiewicz, Lee Bontecou, Robert Indiana, Richard Lindner, Marisol, Claes Oldenburg, Ad Reinhardt, James Rosenquist and others.[36]

The Gates to Times Square, regarded as "one of the most important American sculptures of all time" and "a thrilling homage to the living American culture of advertising and mass communications",[18][37] is a Template:Cvt cube installation of two huge letter As through which visitors may walk into "a gleaming block of stainless steel and Plexiglas that seems to quiver in the play of pale blue neon light" which is controlled by programmed timers.[3][7][17][38] First shown in Manhattan's Pace Gallery, it was given to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York in 1972.[3][38]

Clytemnestra is in the Corcoran Gallery of Art collection in Washington, D.C.[4] It is based on the anguish of Clytemnestra, upon learning that her daughter would be sacrificed by Agamemnon, as portrayed by Chryssa's friend Irene Papas in the Michael Cacoyannis production of Iphigeneia at Aulis on Broadway.[16][39] This work, or another version of it, has also been installed outside the Megaron Concert Hall in Athens.[16]

From 1972

The Whitney Museum of American Art mounted a solo exhibition of works by Chryssa.[17][40] That's All (early 1970s), is the central panel of a triptych related to The Gates of Times Square, was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art between 1975 and 1979.[20][41] Chryssa's solo exhibition at the Gallerie Denise René was reviewed for Time magazine by art critic Robert Hughes before it went on to the Galleries Denise René in Düsseldorf and Paris.[17][20][42] She also received the Guggenheim fellowship.[43]

Chryssa's Template:Cvt Untitled Light Sculpture, six large 'W's connected by cables and programmed electronically to create changing patterns of light through 900 feet of neon tubing, is suspended in the atrium of 33 West Monroe, a Skidmore, Owings & Merrill design and its former headquarters, in Chicago, Illinois.[17][44] Mott Street, named for Mott Street in Chinatown, Manhattan, is a large work in dark aluminium and red-toned neon light which is installed in the Evangelismos station of the Athens Metro.[45][46] Other works by Chryssa in composite honeycomb aluminum and neon in the 1980s and 1990s include Chinatown, Siren, Urban Traffic, and Flapping Birds.[5]

In 1992, after closing her SoHo studio, which art dealer Leo Castelli had described as "one of the loveliest in the world," Chryssa returned to Greece.[47] She found a derelict cinema which had become a storeroom stacked with abandoned school desks and chairs, behind the old Fix Brewery near the city center in Neos Kosmos, Athens. Using the desks to construct enormous benches, she converted the space into a studio for working on designs and aluminum composite honeycomb sculptures.[47] The Athens National Museum of Contemporary Art, which was founded in 2000 and owns Chryssa's Cycladic Books, is in the process of converting the Fix Brewery into its permanent premises.[33][48][49] 'Chryssa & New York' survey was co-organized by the Menil Collection and Dia Art Foundation.[50]

Monographs

A partial listing of monographs on Chryssa's work:

Exhibitions and collections

Partial listings of exhibitions and institutions with works by Chryssa in permanent collections:

Solo exhibitions

Group exhibitions

Collections

Additional exhibitions and collections are listed by the Artforum Culture Foundation,[42] AskART.com,[72] and other sources.

References

Although Chryssa always used the mononym professionally, some fine arts and art auction references nevertheless cite her as Chryssa Vardea, Vardea Chryssa, Chryssa Varda, or Varda Chryssa.

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  1. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  6. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  7. ↑ a b c d e f g Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  8. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  9. ↑ a b c d Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  11. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  12. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  13. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  14. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  15. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  16. ↑ a b c d e f Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
  17. ↑ a b c d e f g h Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  18. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  19. ↑ Wayne Craven. American Art: History and Culture (p. 607). McGraw-Hill Professional, 2002. Template:ISBN.
  20. ↑ a b c d Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  21. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  22. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  23. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  24. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  25. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  26. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  27. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  28. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  29. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  30. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  31. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  32. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  33. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  34. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  35. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  36. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
  37. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  38. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". Sculpture/Construction. Chryssa, 1966. Welded stainless steel, neon, and plexiglass. Overall: Template:Cvt. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Albert A. List, 1972.
  39. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  40. ↑ a b c d Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  41. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  42. ↑ a b Exhibitions listed by the Artforum Culture Foundation.
  43. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  44. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  45. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
  46. ↑ Works of Art (includes images) Template:Webarchive in Athens Metro stations include Chryssa's Mott Street in the Evangelismos station.
    See also: TourTripGreece Athens Metro article Template:Webarchive about the "underground art museums" in the stations.
  47. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  48. ↑ The National Museum of Contemporary Art Template:Webarchive founded in 2000 in Athens. The Museum sponsors Template:Webarchive include I. F. Costopoulos Foundation, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Athens Metro, Alpha Bank, ATEbank, and Otenet. The Museum Building Template:Webarchive (formerly the Fix Brewery).
  49. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  50. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  51. ↑ a b Chryssa: Urban Icons event, "13 related objects." Includes oil paintings and other media. 21 Related Objects.
  52. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". Conversations with architect I. M. Pei, art dealer Leo Castelli, and others. 148 plates; list of public collections and exhibitions.
  53. ↑ "Light Negative Positive" PosterScript error: No such module "Unsubst"., March 28, 1968 – April 15, 1968, in Harvard Yard at Robinson Hall, the former Harvard University library which the John Hay Library replaced in 1910.
  54. ↑ Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Jacques Lassaigne and Pierre Restany, CHRYSSA: Oeuvres recentes (Recent Works) Template:Webarchive. 1979, in French.
  55. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  56. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  57. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  58. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  59. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  60. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  61. ↑ European Cultural Center of Delphi (Council of Europe). "Leading Artists of the 20th century:Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Chryssa – Takis" (June 17, 2000 – July 18, 2000). Works by Chryssa included Chinatown, Piccadilly Circus, Athenian Landscape No. 2 and No. 3, Paris Landscape No 2, Marilyn, Times Square, The Newspaper, and (for the first time) the copper Cycladic Books: Green Series. Eighteen works by Takis included Photovoltaic Energy, Acoustic Chords, and Hommage à Apollon.
  62. ↑ European Cultural Center of Delphi (Council of Europe). "Apollo's Heritage"Script error: No such module "Unsubst". (July 4, 2003 – July 30, 2003). Works by sixteen artists: Giorgio de Chirico, Salvador Dalí, Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas, Nikos Engonopoulos, Yannis Tsarouchis, Giorgos Sikeliotis, Takis, Arman, Fernando Botero, Chryssa, Dimitris Mytaras, Alekos Fassianos, Sarantis Karavouzis, Yiannis Psychopedis, Dimitris Sakellion, Georgios Xenos.
  63. ↑ European Cultural Center of Delphi (Council of Europe). "Columns and Pillars"Script error: No such module "Unsubst". (July 1, 2005 – July 23, 2005). Works by Yannis Moralis, Costas Tsoclis, Alekos Fassianos, Sotiris Sorogas, Pavlos, Yiannis Psychopedis, Dimitris Mytaras, Opy Zouni, Novello Finotti, Stephan Antonakos, Chryssa, Günther Uecker, and others.
  64. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  65. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  66. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  67. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  68. ↑ Eleven worksScript error: No such module "Unsubst". in the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution records. Works include: Cityscape Sculpture Times Square #11, c. 1982–1988 (honeycomb aluminum panel, metallic paint and neon; Script error: No such module "convert".), and Study for The Gates #15 (Flock of Morning Birds from Iphigeneia at Aulis by Euripides), 1967 (neon, glass, plastic, copper wire, wood, and timer; Template:Cvt).
  69. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". China Town (1975 lithograph). Folded Repeated Forms, Times square city scape, Schismi (1990–1995 sculptures). Arrow (undated construction)
  70. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  71. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". Image of Fragments for Gates to Times Square II 1966 (programmed neon and acrylic glass) Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City.
  72. ↑ Museums references on AskART.com.
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