Around Greece in 80 years

A retrospective poster exhibition celebrating 80 years of tourism to Greece

“The art of the poster, its dynamic form, lies not solely in fists or diagonal lines. It isn’t the use of reds, greens, blacks and those ‘national’ blue tones. It is an emotional and attractive layout. It is being ‘different’ every time,” artist Yiorgos Vakirtzis said in May 1978.

The artworks the Greek National Tourism Organisation have used from the ’30s to now will be exhibited in Melbourne and Canberra by the Embassy of Greece, in recognition of the Greek Minister for Tourism, Olga Kefalogianni’s, visit to Australia.

The official tourism posters – that range over 80 years – allows each decade to represent a different cultural angle of Greece.

“Each facet of this beautiful country is reflected in the magic colours, the serenity of the landscape and the unique collective persona of the inhabitants. Culture and history mingle; byproducts of endless centuries into an osmosis of light,” says curator of the exhibition Eyvah Dafaranos.

“Each poster is a master key to a small world in itself. It invites you to explore, to immerse into depths of a distant past, feel the spiritual mingled with the divine, the terrestrial with the ethereal element, passing through historic periods into a modernity which is peaceful, radiant and hospitable.”

Once you set eyes on the posters, you remember these iconic images, that have graced the walls of restaurants, travel agencies, and cafes in Australia, as Greece beckons the diaspora to travel back to the motherland. And all aspects of Greece are brought to life in each scene. Cultural icons, the islands, the hospitality and lifestyle, the ancients, and the rich and proud history are captured and make each image jump off the page.

“You may have read about the history and civilisation but the real sensation is while walking around the centuries-old monuments, scattered all around the country, when you swim in the sky-blue sea, when you taste the traditional Greek hospitality and especially the warmth of the average Hellene.

“You can get these beautiful vibes through the artistic angle of the numerous posters exhibited, divulging the beauty through the aesthetics and the technology of each passing decade. Techniques to catch the beauty may vary, but all of them captivate the viewer with the pieces of art exhibited.”

To accompany these images, a pamphlet distributed by the GNTO that was translated into French truly encapsulates the beauty of these posters. And even though this prose was written in the ’40s, its poetic resonance is still relevant today:

“A sky exceptionally blue and clear, a sea from which one after the other rose the islands of the Archipelago. Your glance can never be lost in infinity. There is always a point where it can rest: a mountain, an island, a line, here clear-cut, there more remote, drowned out by a lambent haze. The sun rises triumphal over this magical landscape and then sets in a glory of colour and light. A sunset in the Greek Archipelago, a time when volumes are drawn one behind the other, diaphanous and crisp, is one of the rare gifts of the Gods…

This is the land blessed by the Gods, where they were born at the dawn of civilisation, where they still live. Luminous and dazzling, these deities of sea, sun and hills, lived on a human scale, on mythical Mount Olympus. And when the twilight hour arrived for them, they gained a second immortality through Homer’s epic poetry…

There are also beautiful mountains. Starting from Pindos, the spine that runs through Continental Greece, many mountain ranges branch off, shaped of rock, small fists that cover almost the entire country, until they either fall suddenly into the Aegean Sea or elsewhere roll gently into the sea, tumbling down into sand dunes. The Muses lived on Mount Parnassus. Pan inhabited Arcadia.

Dense forests hid nymphs and Hamadryads. During the summer, a traveller will encounter alpine landscapes, verdant forests, ravines with a wild beauty. In the winter countless valleys offer wonderful places for skiing and all sorts of winter sports … Where the beauty, magnitude and grace of this land is covered by buildings from the most beautiful civilisation known by the world, from the Minoan Age of Crete and the Mycenaean Age to the Byzantine Era, running through the glory that is the Classical Age. Here lies King Minos’ palace, there a Doric temple, an ancient outdoor theatre, a prophecy, a Byzantine church … It offers much more: renowned spa towns with wonderful metallic waters.

Loutraki, Aedipsos, Methana, Ypati, Kammena Vourla, Kaiaphas, where there are first class facilities for baths, grand hotels, exceptional locations for wonderful excursions…”

Greek National Tourism Organisation pamphlet in French. 1940s, Collection of the Hellenic Literary and Historic Archive.

The exhibition of Greek tourism posters entitled A journey in time through art will be presented by the Embassy of Greece in Australia to honour the visit of the Minister of Tourism Olga Kefalogianni in Canberra on Wednesday 14 May and in Melbourne at the City of Monash, beginning Tuesday 13 May, with the exhibition running for a week.