BENAKI MUSEUM PRESENTS “GHIKA: A JOURNEY FROM WEST TO EAST”

30 years after the death of the great Greek artist, Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika, the Benaki Museum organises an exhibition dedicated to a journey from the West to the East in 1958. In 1957, Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika receives an invitation to participate at an international educational exchange programme sponsored by the American Government.

Having accepted the invitation, Ghika arrives in April 1958 in Washington, where he begins a months-long journey that turned out to be a milestone for his career in painting. New York, Buffalo, Arizona, San Francisco. Mexico, Hawaii, are some of his destinations.

Fulfilling a lifelong dream, he decides to return to Greece travelling through Asia. So, he visits, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Cambodia, several cities in India, and Cairo, before arriving to Athens through London. The journey is both literal and metaphorical. Through drawings, archival material, objects and works of art brought form these distant countries, the public has the opportunity to discover the extent to which, as early as the 1930s, Ghika had already delved into the art, thought, and religion of the Orient, recognizing the similarities and ties between East and West.

At the same time, it is a love journey for the artist and his muse, his future wife, Barbara Warner, who met with him in New Orleans and together they shared this unique experience. The exhibition also features an interactive audiovisual application with the artist and his wife as central characters, who guide us through texts and drawings on this fascinating journey.