thenationalherald/article/59944 The Magic of Manos’ Lens Shown At Benaki Special to The National Herald (Photo/Costa Manos) Man in Chania, Crete, reading a newspaper in 1962 by a landmark, a noted shot my Manos, who liked black-and-white depictions of life, particularly across Greece. ATHENS - The Benaki Museum is featuring the work of renowned Greek-American Constantine Manos in an exhibit called A Greek Portfolio, a selection of rare photos taken in the 1960’s in remote villages across Greece. Constantine Costa Manos was born in 1934, in South Carolina, to Greek immigrant parents. He is known for his images of Boston and Greece. Manos’ work has been published in magazines such as Esquire, Life, and Look. He is a member of Magnum Photos. The Benaki museum characterizes his work as “crystallizing fleeting everyday moments, in a spare and austere style, which is nevertheless tender, without any pompous rhetoric”. Marking the 50th anniversary of Manos’ travels, the exhibition also brings to light some photographs that were never exhibited. The artist donated the photos to the museum’s photographic archive and they will be on display until August 25. Manos travelled the breadth and length of his parents’ country “as a friendly observer, with no rush or specific plan” and catalogued his trip through his photos. In a piece in Kathimerini, Margarita Pournara wrote that, “Back in the days before Greek villages were connected to the electricity grid, Constantine Manos captured vivid, unstaged images of proud, well-mannered villagers in the places where they lived and worked.” He traveled to Greece for the first time in 1961 and transformed his van into a photo lab, just following his wanderlust with no particular place to go. What he produced was a remarkable volume of life in a country on the cusp of change but clinging to its old ways and tradition the landscape and the residents of a country untouched by time and tourist development. Manos traveled around Greece on and off for a total of about two years, with a final journey taking place in 1967. A Greek Portfolio earned various awards, including distinctions at the Arles and Leipzig book fairs. More than 200 prints from the book are on display at the museum in Kolonaki, central Athens in an exhibit that runs through Aug. 25. A member of Magnum Photos, Manos was recognized as a gifted photographer early and he donated his collection to the Benaki. He’s had a long and illustrious career, and started taking photos at age 13 during a school camera club meeting and became the official photographer of the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the age of 19, a job which earned him enough money to travel to Greece. July 17, 2013
Posted on: Thu, 18 Jul 2013 18:12:39 +0000
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