NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) – The abstract figures of naked women stirring to the rhythms of a five-piece orchestra shocked many people almost 60 years ago when they first put the artwork on the walls of a popular restaurant nightclub in Cyprus.
The valuable and very rare concrete relief by Christoforos Savva, Cyprus’ most avant-garde artist of the 1960s, hid for decades in the underground recesses of the Perroquet nightclub in the deserted Varosha – an inaccessible ghost town under Turkish military control since a war in 1974 divided the island nation.
But with Varosha’s controversial partial opening last November, the artwork came to light again after a report by the local newspaper Politis. Now, the man who says he commissioned the art from Savva is asking authorities for help to have it removed and transported to the country’s national gallery so everyone can see it.
Former Perroquet owner Avgerinos Nikitas (93), a Greek Cypriot, has appealed to a committee made up of both Greek and Turkish Cypriots tasked with protecting the cultural treasures of Cyprus on either side of the gorge. protected to help remove the 13 sections.
“In return, I promise to donate these pieces to the National Collection as a small contribution to Christoforos Savva’s great work,” Nikitas said in a letter to The Associated Press, addressed to the committee as well. as the Ministry of Education in Cyprus.
But the whole business can be derailed because the Greek Cypriot family who own the hotel of the Esperia Tower, hosted by the Perroquet Club, insist that the artworks belong to them legally. They say they will not allow their “private property” to be removed and transferred and warn against legal action.
Panayiotis Constantinou, on behalf of his family, told the AP that their lawyer had advised them that the hotel, the club and everything in it belonged to the family, regardless of the cultural value of the Savva artwork.
“We respect and appreciate culture, but it is private property that we have not been asked about removing it. On top of that, someone else is claiming it,” Constantinou said.
Art historians recognize Savva as one of the most influential artists of the time who brought the country’s inward, traditionalist art world into modernity in the years immediately following Cyprus’ independence from the British colonial government in 1960.
Savva, a painter and sculptor, moved away from the established, representative art styles by incorporating influences such as Cubism, which he captured during his stay in London and Paris through the fifties, into his voluminous work of art. He died in 1968.
“Savva was an innovator who was always trying to break new ground and challenge the conservative time in which he lived,” said Andre Zivanari, director of the Point Center for Contemporary Art.
Savva’s work reflects the zest for life of Varosha, then Cyprus’ most progressive, popular tourist resort – a favorite with visitors from Europe and beyond, said Yiannis Toumazis, a professor of art history and a Greek Cypriot member. of the Committee on Culture.
That all changed in the summer of 1974 when Turkey invaded following a coup by supporters of union with Greece. The Turkish army took over an empty Varosha and kept it virtually closed until November, when the breakaway of the Turkish Cypriot authorities reopened a stretch of beach to the public.
The move caused great uproar among the residents of the Greek-Cypriot suburb and protests by the internationally recognized government of the island amid concerns that the hardline leadership of the Turkish Cyprus North was aimed at taking the whole area under its control. to place.
Androulla Vassiliou, former co-chair of Cyprus and co-chair of Cyprus, told the AP that the body would look into bringing the reliefs to the southern part of the island as soon as new members of the Turkish Cyprus are appointed.
The former members of the Turkish Cyprus Committee last December jointly resigned for a divergent view with the new Turkish Cypriot leadership on the aim of directing talks to resolve the division of Cyprus from a federation-based arrangement.
The recycling of works of art that disappeared in the midst of the war confusion is not without precedent. Last February, the culture committee successfully designed the proceeds of 219 paintings – including some of the most important works produced by Greek-Cypriot artists – suspected or stolen in the north.
In return, Turkish Cypriots received scarce archival footage from state broadcaster CyBC of Turkish Cypriot cultural and sporting events dating from 1955 to the early 1960s. The exchange was seen as a tangible way to strengthen trust between Greek and Turkish Cypriots.
Toumazis said repaying Savva’s relief would be another milestone, but even better, people would return to their properties in Varosha.
“It would be nice if people returned to what they owned themselves, rather than transferring artwork to them,” he said.