Glyn Hughes 1931 - 2014

33 Glyn – Christoforos: An explosive synergy In 1959, Glyn Hughes met the Cypriot painter Christoforos Savva. In Hughes’ own words: The first time I met Savva was in a little kebab shop with the blue walls near the bus station and I said: “There’s Savva.” I hadn’t been long here and it was nice to meet just like that someone who wasn’t English, Greek, Turkish or Armenian but just Savva the painter. 31 Hughes’ words are indicative of the awkward multicultural situation as well as the ethnic tensions that prevailed in Cyprus at the end of British rule. The treaty for the establishment of the new post-colonial Republic of Cyprus included, in one way or another, the precondition of the ‘harmonious’ coexistence of all these ethnic groups living on the island. On the one hand, Hughes expresses his admiration for Savva as an artist, and, on the other, he implies that Savva was liberal and cosmopolitan, contrary to the strong nationalistic tendencies of the time. Being a British citizen who happened to be in Cyprus in those troubled years, Hughes was likely treated with some suspicion. This continued for many years and perhaps contributed to the fact that he does not hold the right place in the Cypriot historiography of art. Another factor that contributed to this is the fact that he never learned Greek, allowing the conservative society of Cyprus to always consider him a ‘foreigner’. 32 Regarding his close relationship with Savva, Hughes remembers: After we met, prior to Apophasis Gallery, Savva became my friend, but he was also my great inspiration. Our paths were parallel in the same direction. I was enriched frommy studies and experiences during the 1950s abroad, I had Cyprus and I had Savva in those critical periods of geopolitical, cultural and economical turbulences... and that’s all I needed to move on. 33 At that time, both artists exhibited almost simultaneously at the Ledra Palace Hotel (there were no professional galleries in Cyprus at the time). Hughes’ exhibition was held on 11–16 December while that of Savva on 26–30 December 1959. Hughes showed landscapes (village scenes) and total abstracts and in his notes writes of “how he looked at them all and decided not to paint a view again.” 34 The close relationship between the two men, their common beliefs and visions, their needs and experimentations, their cosmopolitan and liberal artistic and personal imprint prompted them to live together at 6 Sophocleous Street, Nicosia, where they later established Apophasis 1. As we will see further on, the next two years of synergy, and in particular 1962, will be one of the most prolific periods in both artists’ careers. Hughes and Savva were pioneers in breaking the mould of the island’s art scene and introducing Cyprus to a new and exciting way of comprehending art. Through their continuous artistic research and innovative actions, they laid the foundations for a conscious transition from the local to the global at the exact moment when art had begun to take an almost academic