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Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika (Greek, 1906-1994)Aiguilles de pin signé et daté 'GHIKA 66' (en bas à droite); signé, daté et titré 'Ghika 66/ Pine needles' (au revers) huile sur toile 46 x 66cm (18 1/8 x 26in). Peint en 1966. signed and dated (lower right); signed, dated an titled (on the reverse) oil on canvasFootnotesProvenance Private collection, New York. Private collection, London. Rife with distant memories of birds in flight, Pine needles is a luxuriant work of Dionysian contemplation, aptly illustrating Ghika's innovative approach to nature. For Ghika, nature was pantheistic and pagan, experienced as a cosmogony and invested, even in the humblest of shoots, with Oriental myths. In 1958, the artist was invited by the State Department to visit the USA and returned to Greece by way of the Far East. Inspired perhaps by Japanese calligraphy's pronounced gestures and constant flow of brush and pen, his landscapes became denser and more mystical, while their angular geometry gave way to a whirlpool of interwoven lines and forms where trees, leaves, bushes and flowers are set in motion, engaged in a perpetual dance. Here, one can only feel the wonder, the strength and beauty of nature; the sounds emanating from the orchestration of different forms, shapes, and lines. As the artist once said, "I want the viewer to feel the knife used to carve out nature."1 1 Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika [in Greek], Tegopoulos editions, Athens 2009, p. 150.