The World of Cyprus by Adamantios Diamantis

The A. G. Leventis Gallery is cooperating for the second time with the Leventis Municipal Museum of Nicosia to organise the exhibition THE WORLD OF CYPRUS by Adamantios Diamantis RETURNS which will take place in the Temporary Exhibitions Hall of the Leventis Museum from 24 April 2013 until the beginning of October 2013, when the famous artwork will be transported to its new home, the A. G. Leventis Gallery, as part of The Cyprus Collection.

Diamantis’ painting is a monumental work consisting of 11 panels (17.5 m long) and was created in Cyprus between 1967 and 1972. The Cypriot artist (1900-1994) travelled to many of the island’s villages and studied the people and their lives, the society, the ideas and the thinking of that era. He tried to depict the simplicity of life, the values of the patriarchal family, the place of women in the home and in society in general, the importance of family and all the beliefs that comprised Cypriot society of the 1970s. Then he started painting this monumental-size canvas in his workshop and brought together 67 figures, sitting and standing one next to the other, like bringing the people of Cyprus together.

The World of Cyprus was presented for the first time at the Cyprus Folk Art Museum in Nicosia in 1975. It then left for Greece to be exhibited at the National Gallery in Athens and was subsequently acquired by the Teloglion Foundation of Art at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The critical situation in Cyprus following the Turkish invasion of 1974 was deemed as creating insecure and unpredictable conditions for the return of the painting to its home. However, there was a verbal promise to Diamantis himself that the work would return to Cyprus when the conditions on the island were considered safe.

Now this promise has been fulfilled – thanks to an agreement between the Teloglion Foundation of Art and the A. G. Leventis Foundation – and The World of Cyprus has returned to its people and its home, at a time of crisis, when we need to draw strength from our ancestors and confront as a society this difficult situation.

Opening on Wednesday, April 24th at 11:30