The Katakouzenos House Museum and the Legacy of Mid-Century Athens

“There was at all times music and pleasure within the Katakouzenos home. This was the salon of Athens, drawing collectively the painters, the poets, everybody on this planet of the humanities. Leto would play the piano. They danced; they sang. They didn’t simply sit round and philosophize.” For Sophia Peloponnissiou, curator of the Angelos and Leto Katakouzenos Home Museum and member of the board of the Katakouzenos Basis, the singing is a significant element; that illustrious circle that Greeks name the “Technology of the ’30s” stuffed mid-century Athens not simply with tradition, however with optimism: “They have been individuals who had been by a lot; they knew stay.” There’s no higher place to expertise the magic of mid-century Athens than on the Katakouzenos Home Museum. Throughout that period, Greece was within the midst of a cultural renaissance, and Angelos and Leto have been on the coronary heart of it.

Angelos, a pioneering neurologist and psychiatrist deeply engaged within the arts, and Leto, an achieved author and pianist who spoke 5 languages with ease, shared a present for forming significant connections with others. The rooms on the museum maintain reminiscences of fantastic evenings: the surrealist poet Andreas Embirikos studying his work, or the composer Manos Hadjidakis making an attempt out a brand new piece for them on the Steinway, as he’d typically do. On a given evening, Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika may need been portray his magnificent “4 Seasons” on the 2 mahogany double doorways (he lived with Angelos and Leto right here for half a 12 months, working in situ), William Faulkner may need stopped in for a casual session with Angelos, or Leto might have been deep in a tête-à-tête with Camus. It was an period of inspiration.

It was additionally an period of nice friendships and idealism, a shared sense of function. Born, for probably the most half, throughout the first decade of the twentieth century, the people who made up the Technology of the ’30s had, by mid-century, been by loads collectively: the Balkan Wars, WWI and the Nationwide Schism, the Asia Minor Disaster of 1922 (when the millennia-old Greek-speaking neighborhood in Turkey was pressured to flee the nation), WWII and the occupation of Greece, after which the Greek Civil Battle. Of those, the catastrophic defeat in Asia Minor was maybe probably the most pivotal occasion for the collective Greek psyche. The era that created trendy Greek tradition takes its identify from the last decade following that disaster; amid their profound examination of Hellenic id, a quest for “Greekness,” or “grécité,” took form. This search would encourage a spread of wealthy expressions within the arts all through the a long time to come back, a singular cultural output that gave religious energy to the nation as Greece additionally emerged as a dynamic presence on the worldwide scene.

The Katakouzenos circle fashioned the era’s core; Angelos was notably shut to 2 of the period’s most influential figures. The poet George Seferis – a 1963 Nobel Laureate – and Angelos had been pals since their college days within the Nineteen Twenties in Paris, the place they even lived in the identical lodge. The painter Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika (“Nikolis” to those that knew him nicely) was with them in Paris, too; he and Angelos have been shut pals for over half a century.

Elias Venezis, an ideal buddy to each Angelos and Hadjikyriakos-Ghika, would typically be a part of them. As a lot as anybody, Venezis embodied the Technology of the ’30s, each in his life and in his artwork; initially from Ayvalik in Asia Minor, he was taken prisoner by Turkish forces and assigned to a labor brigade throughout the battle that ended so catastrophically for the Greek neighborhood in 1922. His books, together with “Quantity 31328,” “Galini” (Tranquility) and “Aeolian Earth,” are uniquely transferring paperwork of the warfare, of Asia Minor Hellenism, and of the refugee expertise. George Katsimbalis (the “Colossus” that impressed Henry Miller’s well-known travelogue “The Colossus of Maroussi”), and Tériade (Stratis Eleftheriadis of Lesvos, writer of the seminal Parisian journal “Minotaure”) have been additionally amongst their intimate pals. A youthful era might discover inspiration in such firm – as certainly did the author Costas Taktsis (finest recognized for “The Third Marriage ceremony,” his internationally well-received novel): “With Angelos and Leto,” Taktsis stated, “I realized love.”

Arts and letters

This can be a small sampling of their shut acquaintances – there’s scarcely a e-book on the closely laden cabinets that isn’t affectionately inscribed to Angelos or Leto. Many volumes of handwritten correspondence fill the wealthy archives, whereas images of their expensive pals cowl the tables. There’s artwork all over the place – all of the extra treasured as every work was a present from the artists. In addition to Ghika’s splendid doorways and several other different works, there may be Gounaropoulos’ collection “The Kiss,” impressed maybe by Angelos and Leto’s mutual adoration. These works hold within the massive blue front room, the place you may as well see the portrait of Leto by Chagall, and two very high-quality items by the sculptor Tombros (one, delightfully named “Flirtation of the Chicken and the Flower,” was created expressly for them). There are works by Theofilos, the profoundly influential folks painter of Lesvos, of whom Angelos was an ideal supporter.

The artist Yannis Tsarouchis, along with some high-quality work, left one thing extra behind right here; impressed by his work within the theater (which included creating the units for “Norma,” the primary opera manufacturing staged on the Historical Theatre of Epidaurus, with Maria Callas within the title position), Tsarouchis created a pleasant boudoir for Leto – it unfolds from the wall like a hidden stage. In direction of the again of the home, a small salon with darkish inexperienced partitions holds tales of its personal. “This room brings us to the Thirties,” says Peloponnissiou. “There was an analogous room of their residence at 7 Pindarou Avenue.” (That constructing was torn down within the Sixties, in order that they recreated their world in these grand rooms overlooking the Nationwide Gardens.) With its whimsical lamp and its velvet drapes completed in salmon pink, that earlier house made an impression on the painter Spyros Vassiliou, who captured it together with his signature attraction. It was this portray – now hanging right here – that impressed Peloponnissiou: “After I found these exact same velvet drapes in a drawer, I made a decision to recreate that salon because it had as soon as been,” referring to the room within the couple’s earlier residence.

The couch on this room, a Josef Hoffmann piece, has its personal story as nicely; comfortable, with excessive sides, it’s actually extra a loveseat, all the higher for intimate dialog amongst three, with the visitor of honor seated between Leto and Angelos. This couch was a favourite of Seferis, Camus, Elytis and Faulkner. Peloponnissiou light-heartedly dubbed it “the couch of the Nobels”.

Enlightened Envoys

Many worldwide figures, Nobel winners and others, joined their circles now and again; with Angelos’ put up as president of the Greek-French Cultural Union and his Paris schooling, and Leto’s straightforward, multilingual heat, the couple have been wonderful cultural ambassadors. Angelos and Camus had met in France; Angelos invited him to discuss the way forward for European civilization. With Leto, Camus discovered an instantaneous mental rapport, which she made the topic of her e-book “Within the Firm of Albert Camus.” Faulkner would later name his night right here one among “probably the most fascinating of his life.” He additionally despatched a photograph of himself, devoted to “the face Marlowe wrote about,” a nod to Christopher Marlowe’s well-known reference to Helen of Troy as “the face that launched a thousand ships.” Leto had clearly made fairly an impression. Leto additionally made fairly an impression on Peloponnissiou, who knew her nicely. Their friendship started in 1989, when she learn Leto’s e-book “Angelos Katakouzenos: My Valis,” a tribute to her husband. Peloponnissiou, moved, wrote her a letter. Leto replied with an invite, by telegram. So started what the curator describes as probably the most inspiring friendship of her life.

When Leto died in 1997, Peloponnissiou was shocked to seek out herself entrusted with a basis. The home appears at this time as if nothing has been touched from the times of Angelos and Leto. In actuality, the restoration and the archiving have been monumental duties; Peloponnissiou concerned her complete household – even her little daughter, who was three on the time. It was and is a labor of affection; Peloponnissiou has at all times been, and nonetheless is, a volunteer, dedicated to preserving an impressive cultural legacy. What’s extra, she has ensured that these inspiring rooms retain their authentic sense of function; whereas preserving the reminiscences and works of a big period, the Katakouzenos Home Museum stays a spot for tradition. A full calendar of exhibitions, talks, recitals, performances and different occasions retains the home full of music and pleasure. “Folks inform me,” the curator says, “that occasions right here have a particular high quality, one thing intimate, one thing that touches the guts.” Angelos and Leto could be happy.