On the occasion of the first exhibition of my Collection of exclusively Christian Art and the publication of the precious catalogue that accompanies the event, I wish to look back on the course that led to its acquisition. This review helps me realise that the gradual formation of my Collection has been fully in tune with my personal, family and professional course and is an integral part of my life and religious beliefs.
Faithful from a young age, I was a member of the Union of Orthodox Christian Youth (OHEN), going to church regularly, helping with the services and singing. My love and devotion to religion and my country led me to join the EOKA youth. While still a fifth-grade high-school student, I was arrested by the British army, and after harsh questioning I was detained as a political prisoner at the Kokkinotrimithia Detention Centre for 18 months. Upon my release I joined the guerrilla groups of EOKA and served as head of the Nicosia Mountain subdivision till the end of the Struggle.
My devotion to religion led me to collect Christian icons and prints from a young age; these were the seeds of the desire to acquire a Collection.
When I joined the Diplomatic Corps of Cyprus in 1961, new horizons were opened to me and many opportunities to go deeper into the study of Christian Art.
A major milestone in this direction was my appointment as First Secretary and Consul at the Cyprus Embassy in Washington D.C., where I stayed from 1967 to 1972.
I used these five years in the US capital to delve deeper into the study of Christian Art, realising that the available opportunities could enable me to acquire genuine works by great artists. I followed diligently the exhibitions and lectures on Christian Art, attended auctions of artworks and studied regularly the subjects around Christian Art practitioners in the famous Library of Congress. My interest kept growing, my knowledge of Christian Art was improving, the opportunities to acquire works were there but our funds were limited.
Happily, my wife Ritsa came to share my passion for Christian Art and we started purchasing works together, devoting a sizable part of our limited finances.
Our love and passion for Christian Art was further enhanced when I returned to the USA with the Permanent Mission of Cyprus to the United Nations, initially in New York in 1975-1981 as Consul-General and from 1981 to 1983 as Envoy in Washington.
New York had lots of artworks to offer at attractive prices, but they were in need of costly restoration, so my wife decided to go to college and obtain a degree in art conservation. This helped us to obtain old, time worn works, mainly oils, which my wife’s crucial treatment turned into precious and enviable acquisitions. This went on for several years, during which our Collection kept growing. We would buy works we liked, which moved us aesthetically, when the price was affordable. I continued my study of Christian Art, kept company with major art collectors and went on learning more about what appealed to my interest.
In the years 1984-1989 I was appointed Ambassador of the Republic of Cyprus in Mexico, and since I was also accredited in almost all countries in Latin America I had the opportunity to study the span of Christian Art in those countries and acquire several works in this highly interesting style which enriched our Collection.
A similar thing happened when I was accredited as Ambassador of the Republic of Cyprus in Moscow, from 1989 to 1992; this appointment also helped in the acquisition of a large number of works by Russian artists which boosted the Collection.
These fifty years I spent studying and collecting Christian Art radically changed my life. An emotional attachment was forged with every single work in the Collection, with each example having its history and rejecting the passion and the struggle for acquiring it. I see these works as members of my family, in need of love, maintenance and protection. Collecting works of Christian content is to me a moving and fascinating pursuit. It keeps cultivating my taste and aesthetic criteria, while my satisfaction grows with time. And all this study, the education and the emotional bond have no end. Through this spiritual adventure I got to know the civilization and the customs of many different peoples.
I never engaged in trading this divine Art, and I consider myself all the more wealthy and fortunate for having gathered this spiritual treasure. I am always guided by my instinct, my experiences, my taste and my aesthetics and I am not likely to be influenced by traders or transient fashions. Of course, a diplomat’s complex and demanding obligations did not permit me to devote the necessary time to my nascent Collection unless the circumstances allowed it.
After my retirement I was able to give my exclusive attention to researching, enriching and documenting the Collection. The paintings, prints, sculptures and other items had to be catalogued and documented. This took considerable time, and was accomplished with help from my wife and several friends. It is a matter of great satisfaction to me as the reward of a long struggle, which was nothing other than my love for Art. It constitutes a gesture of admiration to the Greek and Cypriot artists who have almost monopolized our interest in the last 20 years, but also to all practitioners in general. I never discriminated among countries and dogmas (Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, etc…), because all the works are inspired by Christian faith, and Christianity is one and indivisible.
And now the time has come to share with my compatriots and a broader public the love, the emotion and the messages in this rich Collection of Christian Art. I thank the Good God for enabling me to present this exhibition and publish its catalogue. I believe that the happy coincidence of this first exhibition and publication with the events for “European Capital of Culture – Pafos 2017” was the wish of Our Lady Mary, whom I honour through the many works devoted to her in the Collection. I am convinced I would never have been able to carry out this work without her aid, especially in view of the limited finances at my disposal.
It is my dream and aspiration that after the exhibition in Pafos in 2017, and then in other European countries, the Collection may be permanently housed in a Museum of Christian Art, to be suitably located in Nicosia and hopefully provided by the Holy Archdiocese or the State.
A venture like this would significantly promote our compatriots’ religious, cultural and aesthetic cultivation, at the same time becoming an indisputably major attraction for thousands of visitors from all over the world to come to Cyprus.
First and foremost I thank Our Lady for making me worthy of completing my task with the publication of this volume. My wife, Ritsa, for standing by me all these years and for being my advisor and my great help. To my good friends Stavros and Chryssoula Baltogiannis I wish to express my deep gratitude for being the first, some ten years back, to encourage me to present the works in a book; indeed, at the time Chryssoula had offered to edit the publication. My warm thanks to the dear friend Ms Klairi Angelidou, Cyprus’s former Minister of Education and President of the Estia Ellados Cyprus, to the Board and to the Foundation for Hellenic Culture for undertaking this publication.
Mr Christos Patsalides, Chairman of Pafos 2017, the Mayor of Pafos Mr Phedon Phedonos, their Boards and associates I thank from my heart for embracing this venture from the outset.
I also feel the need to stress the contribution of Ms Salome Papadopoulou, Graphic designer, for the Art editing of the Catalogue as well as of Mr Andreas Papavassiliou, emeritus professor of theology, who volunteered to provide an excellent description of most of the works as they are presented in the Apsida digital archive.
My special thanks to the Most Reverend Nikiforos, Metropolitan of Kykkos and Tylliria, and the Director of Kykkos Museum Mr Stelios Perdikis for the photographs of certain masterpieces from the Monastery which accompany the introductory texts of the book. I thank also our sponsors, without whose aid this ambitious venture could not have been realised.
My heartfelt thanks also to Dr Marinos Ioannides, Chair of the Digital Heritage Research Lab at the Cyprus University of Technology, and his associates for their generous uploading of the works on the Apsida digital archive; Alexis Christoforou for creating and regularly updating the “Christian Art” website; and Kikos Lanitis, Melina Demetriou, James Christoforou for the layout of the exhibition. Also, professor Dimitris Pavlopoulos and Dr Andreas Sofocleous for the advice they have given me as to the Collection over the years.
I hope that the Exhibition of my Collection and the accompanying Catalogue may support and enrich the events for “European Capital of Culture – Pafos 2017”, this major celebration for our country.
Charalambos Christoforou
