Glyn Hughes 1931 - 2014

27 Christoforos Savva: The Cypriot bohemian Christoforos Savva (1924–1968) was born to a rural family in the village of Marathovouvo in the Famagusta District. He was a reserved and inward-looking child, keeping his thoughts very much to himself, while outwardly appearing sociable. 13 Besides farmwork and carefree games with other children, he liked to frequent the village coffee house, talk to his fellow villagers and dream of a very different life. In fact, although his family had right-wing views, he preferred the coffee house of the left-wing supporters “because it was there that more ideas circulated, especially the vision for a better and fairer world.” 14 These ideals prompted him to enlist as a volunteer in the British army during World War II, following a general invitation by the left-wing party AKEL, fighting against Fascism and Nazism. Thus, from 1943 to 1944, he served in the Cyprus Regiment in Cairo, and from 1944–1946 in Section I of 226 Field Company of the Royal Engineers in Italy. 15 As soon as the war ended, he moved to London, where he lived from 1947 to 1954. He attended courses at St Martin’s School of Art and the Central School of Art for a while, and from 1948 to 1954 he attended Heatherly’s School of Fine Art, an art school quite liberal for the era, which offered great freedom to students to experiment with their personal artistic style. In order to sustain himself, Savva worked at the same time as a waiter in various restaurants. Between 1954 and 1956, Savva returned to Cyprus together with his fellow student and friend Roddy Maude-Roxby, preparing a joint exhibition which would be held in November 1954 at the British Council. For this purpose, the two artists travelled and stayed in different places in Cyprus. As Antonis K. Iliakis remembers: “Christoforos Savva and Roddy Maude-Roxby moved around by bicycle. The locals thought of them as being exotic, saw them with suspicion.” 16 It seems that the dreamy child from Marathovouno had been initiated into the bohemian life of western artists of the 1950s. In addition, during that period Savva hosted for three months at his father’s house in Marathovouno two other fellow students from Heatherly, Kathleen Blagden and Ros 17 Newcomen, 18 who left a strong impression on the conservative rural community of the small village of Mesaoria. 19 During the same period, Savva also associated with other foreigners living on the island and especially with English people from the British Council. 20 He worked towards the establishment of the Pancyprian Association of Friends of Art together with other young people, aiming at the revival of the intellectual and artistic scene of Cyprus. However, Savva’s enquiring mind, his international orientation, the negative reviews of his work criticizing his unrealistic, modern inclinations –especially from the leftist newspapers of the time– in a Cyprus that had already entered the 1955–1959 liberation struggle against the British, prompted him to go abroad once again. After a short stopover in London, Savva settled in Montmartre, Paris, and apprenticed at the studio of Cubist André Lhote. The French capital, with its ambiance, its museums, the great painters, the exhibitions, and his teacher, were quite revelatory to Savva and marked the subsequent development of his personality and his artistic career. As always, Savva’s