High-quality print – Hadjisoteriou

Xanthos Hadjisoteriou (1920–2002), The Woman with the Domes, from the Cyprus Collection, in a wooden frame.

The woman is the focal point of the composition. Around her, forming an oval shape, the painter has positioned church domes and six traditional earthenware pots, the symbols of Cyprus’ spiritual and material civilization: the church – symbolizing the deep religiosity of the Cypriots and a source of many of their moral values; and the pots – symbolizing the island’s age-long cultural tradition in pottery and the vital relationship of the Cypriot people with the earth. The oval face, the arched eyebrows, the long, thin nose, the pursed lips and the big eyes are all features of Byzantine typology, as are the schematic lighting of the face and the way the colors are combined on the surface.