The opening of the exhibition, from the right Mr. Antonis Papadimitriou president of the Onassis Foundation, Mr. Petros Tatoulis then undersecretary of Culture, Mrs. Emilia Geroulanou President of the Benakis Museum, behind her Professor Angelos Delivorrias curator of the exhibition, Mr. Evangelos Venizelos former Minister of Culture and Mr. Yannis Ioannides Vice-President of the Onassis Foundation. On the left, Ambassador Lucas Tsilas, Executive Director of the affiliated Alexander Onassis Public Benefit Foundation (USA).

Edited by the (since 1973) Director of the Benaki Museum, Prof. Aggelos Delivorias, the exhibition is entitled ‘From the Byzantine Empire to Modern Greece – Hellenic Art in Adversity, 1453-1830’.
The exhibition opened its gates to the public on December 14, 2005, during a grand ceremony at the Olympic Tower in New York (home of the Onassis Cultural Centre) and will be open until May 6th, 2006.
More than 137 articles dating back from the post-Byzantine collections of the Benaki Museum – breathtaking icons, ornate wood carvings, glorious embroidery, ceramics and stone reliefs, priceless jewellery, fine clothing, remarkable paintings, exceptional pieces of silversmith, rare book editions, maps, weapons and heirlooms – portray the panorama of the Hellenic art during the years of the Venetian and Ottoman occupations.

Church-shaped casket, 1613, from the Timios Prodromos Monastery at Serres, Macedonia, gilt silver, champleve and filigree enamel, copper core

The Adoration of Magi, ca.1560-67, Domenikos Theotokopoulos (El Greco), egg tempera on wood.

Prof. Delivorias said ‘the secular art of that era, to which this exhibition is dedicated, refers to the least studied and known period of the Hellenic art. We hope that some day this secular art will draw some scientific attention - at least commensurate with the importance of its own outstanding identity, if not equivalent to the one shown to the Hellenic Antiquity Art or the Byzantine Art. The secular art of the occupied Hellenism functioned as a counterbalance to the strenuous every day life of the time, and as such it glorifies the joy of living through an astonishing color euphoria, through the symbolic associations of  blossoming promises, and through the eroticism, discretely expressed throughout its works.

Pendant in the shape of a four-masted caravel, first half of the 17th century, from Patmos, Dodecanese, gold sheet, filigree, enamel, pearls

’Indeed, its semantics, notwithstanding the patriarchal structures of society, appear to be praising female existence, thus reflecting deeply rooted democratic beliefs. As for the difficulties in defining the conceptual identity of its artistic products – their practically unfounded classification according to the so-called “popular” or “urban” motifs – it should be stressed that their distinct differences, if any, are a matter of quantity rather than of quality.
’Nevertheless’, Prof. Delivorias continues ‘the aesthetic ideal is shaped by the equally assimilated elements of the imperial greatness of the Byzantine tradition, the elegance of western trends and the decorative grace of the eastern, ottoman sensitivity’.
The exhibition begins with the first attempts to draw maps of the Hellenic area, attempts that reveal the economic and strategic interests of the West in Levant, but also the maritime needs and patriotic aspirations of Hellenes.

A Greek lady of Constantinople, early 18th century, attributed to Jean Baptiste van Mour (1671-1737), oil on hardboard

The second section displays the flourishing of the ecclesiastical art and especially of religious painting that gave birth to the phenomenon of Domenikos Theotokopoulos.
The development of Hellenic shipping and maritime trade leading to the prosperity of the Hellenic world of the 18th century is the theme of the next section that sheds light to the background revolutionary ideas sprung from.
The other two sections focus on secular art. The first one consists of pieces of jewelry and female dresses portraying a panorama of exemplary expression’s freedom, but also a model of the woman’s status within the then social net. The second one projects the high aesthetics of the modern, Hellenic home with its vivid color ceramics, its painted furniture and fine broidery that reveal the popular artisans’ artistic sensitivity.

Painted map of Greece, after 1585, after Stefano Buonsignori, egg tempera on wood

Two of the exhibition’s highlights are the representation of an entire bedroom with a wonderful bridal bed covered in valuable, silk embroidery, and a collection of magnificently painted ceramics coming from a traditional house in the Dodecanese.

Crowning with the Rebirth of Greece, 19th century, probably from Syros, Cyclades, wood, painted in egg tempera

The exhibition also includes sections dedicated to the Hellenic Enlightenment and the philhellenism movement; it also includes scenes and heirlooms from the Hellenic Cause.

View of the plane of Marathon, 1854, Edward Lear (1812-1888), oil on canvas

As the President of the Onassis Foundation Mr. Anthony Papadimitriou pointed out ‘the Onassis Foundation is enormously proud to bring the New York public close to one of the most unexplored eras of the Hellenic Civilization. Following the will of the late Aristotelis Onassis, the Onassis Affiliated Public Benefit Foundation focuses primarily on the promotion of the Hellenic language, the Orthodoxy, and the spotlighting of the Hellenism’s potential, both within and beyond Hellas’ borders.  The Foundation’s exhibitions always take place within the spirit of promoting the Hellenic Civilization, which was and remains the cornerstone of global cultural creation. This year’s exhibition finds itself entirely within this spirit and offers its visitor the opportunity to unveil not only the historic and economic framework that has led to contemporary Hellas, but also the significant steps taken in the field of intellectual and artistic creation of those times’.