From 1970 onwards, Theodoros Stamos spent one half of the year in New York and the other in Lefkada in his father’s native Greece. It was here that the artist discovered the fulfilment in nature he needed for Infinity Fields. Numerous paintings in the series completed by the end of the 1970s bear the additional Lefkada Series title, including this one.
With the addition of For Caspar David Friedrich, Stamos dedicated the painting to the most important German Romantic painter and placed himself in the tradition of his Romantic appreciation of nature. In this series of works, areas of colour which had previously been geometrically delineated against each other in the Sun Boxes free themselves from their rectangular forms. The field expands beyond the edge of the picture or takes up a larger area. As in the work of Caspar David Friedrich, the pictorial space becomes a scenic expanse, but, while in Friedrich’s work it is the view of the landscape which pulls the viewer into the depth of the picture, in Stamos’ work, the abstract surfaces are the main source of attraction.
Theodoros Stamos (1922–1997)
Infinity Field – For Caspar David Friedrich (Lefkada Series), 1981
Currently exhibited: No
Material: Mixed media on canvas
Size: 181 x 125.5 cm
Inv-Nr.: B_300
Image rights: The Theodoros Stamos Estate, Jason Savas, New York
Keywords:
Previous owner: M. Knoedler, Zürich; private collection, Germany
Acquisition: Reinhard Ernst Collection, Artcurial, Paris, 2013
Theodoros Samos grew up as the son of Greek immigrants in a large family on the Lower East Side, Manhattan, and was first drawn to Greece in 1970. He made his father’s hometown of Lefkada his second home, and his retreat. From then on, he spent one half of the year in New York, the other in Greece. It was here that the artist discovered the fulfilment in nature he needed for Infinity Fields. Numerous paintings in the series completed by the end of the 1970s bear the additional Lefkada Series title, including this one. With the addition of For Caspar David Friedrich, Stamos dedicated the painting to the most important German Romantic painter and placed himself in the tradition of his Romantic appreciation of nature.
In this series of works, areas of colour which had previously been geometrically delineated against each other in the Sun Boxes free themselves from their rectangular forms. The field expands beyond the edge of the picture or takes up a larger area. Initially, the artist adheres to the straight line as a pictorial element. However, in Infinity Field (Lefkada Series) For Caspar David Friedrich, it develops into a drawn and guided stroke which now functions as a mediator between the various surfaces. As in the work of Caspar David Friedrich, the pictorial space becomes a scenic expanse, but, while in Friedrich’s work it is the view of the landscape which pulls the viewer into the depth of the picture, in Stamos’ work, the abstract surfaces are the main source of attraction.
