Recto Verso - From Byzantium to Modernism

The exhibition focuses on some to the most significant icons, originating from monasteries and village churches of the Limassol diocese. Eight of these icons are two-sided, thus the title Recto/Verso, indicating a representation at both sides, with the image of the Virgin with Child at the front (recto) and that of the Crucifixion or Via Crucis or simply a cross with decorative motifs at the back (verso).

The exhibition sheds light on representative samples of the iconographic creation from the twelfth to the nineteenth century, presenting the whole spectrum of ecclesiastical art from the Byzantine era, to Frankish (Lusignan and Venetian rule) and Ottoman times, covering thus a broad stylistic and chronological gamut that crystallizes different periods from the history of the island.

The visual voyage is completed with works by contemporary Cypriot artists, innovatively reinterpreting and rearticulating the particular hagiographic themes (Virgin with Child/Crucifixion) as they are delineated through the Byzantine, the subsequent Crusader tradition of the West and the Italobyzantine mode.

Participationg artists : Maria Andreou, Savvas Christodoulides, Andreas Chrysochos, Marianna Constanti, Adamantios Diamantis, George Erotokritos, Tatiana Ferahian, Georghios Pol. Georghiou, Erato Hadjisavva, Yiota Ioannidou, Michael Kasialos, George Kotsonis, Andreas Makariou, Angelos Makrides, Antonis Neophytou, Lefteris Olympios, Andreas Paraskeva, Stass Paraskos, Andreas Savvides, Rinos Stefani, Lefteris Tapas, Susan Vargas, Panagiotis Vittis, Constantinos Zannetos