An exhibition of historic photographs
25 May – 16 September 2023
The Mount Athos Center, in collaboration with the Department of Art and Archaeology of Princeton University, presents, for the first time in Greece, this exhibition of historic photographs from the expedition undertaken by three traveller-artists from Princeton to Mount Athos and the Meteora in 1929.
The exhibition will be officially opened at 7 p.m. on Thursday 25 May 2023 in the exhibition space of the Mount Athos Center (109 Egnatia St.).
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A few words about the photographic archive and the exhibition:
Towards the end of 2017, during a move of the old libraries of Princeton University’s Department of Art and Archaeology, the staff discovered a hidden barrel containing photographic material relating to an unknown and long-forgotten journey.
The research that was carried out by members of the departmental staff revealed that the nine canisters of film that had been placed inside the barrel contained the record of a journey undertaken by a group of travellers to Mount Athos and the Meteora. Further research succeeded in establishing a connection between the film material and 254 photographic prints and 81 glass lantern slides (16 of which were hand-coloured) that already existed, though unidentified, in the Visual Resources Collection of Princeton University.
View the embedded image gallery online at:
https://www.agioritikiestia.gr/en/no-woman-s-land-from-princeton-to-mount-athos-and-the-meteora-in-1929#sigProId9adc63d353
https://www.agioritikiestia.gr/en/no-woman-s-land-from-princeton-to-mount-athos-and-the-meteora-in-1929#sigProId9adc63d353
The journey to Greece took place in the autumn of 1929 and the group of travellers comprised the Russian emigré, painter, explorer and gifted communicator Vladimir “Vovo” Perfilieff, the photographer, talented cinematographer and later Oscar prize-winner Floyd Crosby, and the architect and Princeton University graduate Gordon McCormick. The three travellers were accompanied by the young Anastasios Chatzimitsos, an interpreter from Thessaloniki. The expedition’s main destination was Mount Athos, where the aim was to photograph and film a place which was then regarded as being mysterious, unique and unaltered by the passage of time.
The members of the expedition were struck by the superb natural scenery, the architecture of the monasteries, the daily life of the monks, their encounter with the cave-dwelling hermit Elias and the remarkable conditions in which he lived, and also the universal absence of women on the Athonite peninsula, a fact which led them to call their project No Woman’s Land.
The photographs in the collection bring to light rare material and the information they provide in the fields of history, social studies, folklore and architecture is extremely important as it extends the range of original sources and adds invaluable new data to the historical research on two leading monastic centres of the Orthodox world: Mount Athos and the Meteora.
View the embedded image gallery online at:
https://www.agioritikiestia.gr/en/no-woman-s-land-from-princeton-to-mount-athos-and-the-meteora-in-1929#sigProIde0553e7bf5
https://www.agioritikiestia.gr/en/no-woman-s-land-from-princeton-to-mount-athos-and-the-meteora-in-1929#sigProIde0553e7bf5
Research & curation of the exhibition: Anastasios Ntouros
Official opening: 7 p.m. Thursday 25 May 2023
Duration of exhibition: 25 May – 16 September 2023
Exhibition venue: Mount Athos Center, 109 Egnatia St., Thessaloniki
Opening hours:
Monday & Wednesday: 09:00 – 16:00
Tuesday, Thursday & Friday: 09:00 – 20:00
Saturday: 09:00 – 14:00
Group tours may be arranged.
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