At Marina, Larnaca, 1878 (Tristram Ellis)
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Costas & Rita Severis Foundation
Since 1999, the Costas & Rita Severis Foundation has organised cultural and educational events while promoting research and scholarship in Cyprus.
In 2013, the Foundation began implementing the Sharing History, Art, Research & Education (SHARE) initiative, a partnership programme of the Costas & Rita Severis Foundation, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Turkish Cypriot University Women’s Association, and the NGO Support Center. The goal of SHARE is to provide a common platform for the exploration of the island’s cultural heritage by means of visual and creative arts, through which to increase the potential for peaceful coexistence in Cyprus.
In 2014, the Foundation opened the Centre of Visual Arts & Research (CVAR) on Ermou Street, in the heart of the walled city of Nicosia. CVAR hosts the Costas & Rita Severis collections, which comprise more than 1,500 works of art by artists travelling to Cyprus during the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, hundreds of Cypriot memorabilia, dozens of Cypriot costumes from the 18th to the 20th centuries, and more than 10.000 books on the history, art and culture of Cyprus and its neighbours.
Code:
320
Translator:
Euphrosyne Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou
Description:
Watercolour painting At the Marina, Larnaca, 1878, (that part around the port was better known as Scala, and the rest of the town was about half to one mile away) gives the impression of a Near Eastern port. This could be any small harbour in Asia Minor, Egypt or Syria. What is interesting, and what renders it an oriental picture, is the carefully chosen detailing, that has been included and what omitted. the costumes are Ottoman and exotic, which presented only half the truth. There is no doubt that such costumes were seen all over Cyprus and in countryside for many years to come, but by the end of the nineteenth century Larnaca was Europeanised to the degree that at least part of its population appeared in European clothes. There are no women on the seafront, even if it appears to be busy market day. The only woman to be seen is seated at her window high above the road, at safe distance for men. she is wearing the white robes of the Moslem tradition, even though her face uncovered and she is seated by wide open window - pointing it the relaxation of the Islamic rules even on women attire. (severis 2000 page 176 fig 206)
Bibliography:
Severis, R. C., Travelling Artists in Cyprus 1700-1960, London: Phillip Wilson Publishers Limited.