‘The World of Cyprus’ by Adamantios Diamantis, Leventis Municipal Museum of Nicosia
The exhibition ‘The World of Cyprus’ by Adamantios Diamantis, the second collaboration between the A. G. Leventis Gallery and the Leventis Municipal Museum of Nicosia, was hosted by the Museum from 24 April 2013 to January 2014, when it will be transported to its new home in the A. G. Leventis Gallery, as part of its Cyprus Collection. This monumental 17.5 m-long painting consists of 11 panels and was created in Cyprus between 1967 and 1972. Diamantis travelled to the island’s villages, studied people of the countryside and depicted the simplicity of their daily lives. In the studio, he executed these 67 monumental figures, in a work that symbolically brought together people from various corners of the island. First presented in the Museum of Folk Art in Nicosia in 1975, the painting travelled to Greece for an exhibition at the National Gallery and was then acquired by the Teloglion Foundation of Art, where it remained following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. The verbal promise made to Diamantis, that the work would return to Cyprus when conditions permitted, has been fulfilled through an agreement between the Teloglion and the A. G. Leventis Foundation, allowing The World of Cyprus to return to its home and its people.
