Pyla, Cyprus

On one side of the village square is the Turkish Coffee House. Watercolour painting by David Easton.

On the opposite side of the Square is the former home of the Kakoullis family, seen  this portrait taken about 100 years ago.

The village church is viewed in this painting from a narrow winding lane.

Close to the centre of Pyla Village stands this once handsome house. Originally the home of a prosperous family, the building is now crumbling and neglected.

A quiet corner in Pyla.

Μια ήσυχη γωνιά στην Πύλα, Κύπρος

                              Pile, Kıbrıs'ta sakin bir köşe

In First Street, Pyla this old building opposite the tower stands boarded up and unwanted. Watercolour painted 18th November 2017.

Pyla Turkish Sports Club

Pile Turk Spor Kulubu

Watercolour by David Easton 19th November 2017

Pyla's Venetian watchtower dates from the late 15th or early 16th century.
This watercolour painting shows a view from the village square.

Pile'nın Venedikli gözetleme kulesi, 15. yüzyılın sonlarından veya 16. yüzyılın başlarından kalmış.
Bu suluboya resim köy meydanından bir görünümü göstermektedir.


Το βενετικό παρατηρητήριο της Πύλας χρονολογείται από τα τέλη του 15ου ή αρχές του 16ου αιώνα.
Αυτή η ζωγραφική με ακουαρέλα έχει θέα από την πλατεία του χωριού.

This is the Church of Panagia Asprovouniotissa in Pyla. It was built in 1200 and was originally part of a monastery. It has been reconstructed and renovated in more recent times. In 2005, mortar covering the walls was removed, revealing idolatry statues which had been used in construction of the building.

Αυτή είναι η εκκλησία της Παναγίας Ασπροβουνιώτισσας στην Πύλα. Χτίστηκε το 1200 και ήταν αρχικά μέρος ενός μοναστηριού. Έχει ανακατασκευαστεί και ανακαινιστεί πρόσφατα.

Bu Pile'daki Panagia Asprovouniotissa Kilisesi. 1200 yılında inşa edilmiş ve aslen bir manastırın bir parçasıydı. Daha yakın zamanlarda yeniden inşa edilmiş ve yenilenmiştir.

A door that remains closed.
Number Three, 32nd Street, Pyla
#Cyprus #art # watercolour #painting

A traditional house in the centre of Pyla

There is not much left of this building in Pyla which is gradually crumbling away.  Nothing supports the arch other than the stonemason's skills.
I don't know what this building might have originally been.

#Pyla #Cyprus #art #watercolour #painting

Pyla's former police station dates back to colonial times. A long time since it served that purpose but the building is still well maintained even though it is currently unused.

#Cyprus #Pyla #painting #watercolour

The Buyuk Han in Nicosia was built in 1572 as a caravanserai or inn
In the centre of the courtyard is a mosque.
More than 60 rooms on two floors are now occupied by galleries and cafes

This little chapel clings to the hillside on the outskirts of Pyla. The roadway leads up to a British Army firing range.
Watercolour painting by David Easton

The Hala Sultan Tekke Mosque on the banks of Larnaca Salt Lake. Watercolour painting by David Easton

Watching out over the village of Pyla, a United Nations lookout post perched on a hilltop.

The Monastery of San Damiano, Assisi

Monks reading at the monastery of San Damiano in Assissi in 1923. 

 Built in the 12 th century, this was the first monastery of the order of St. Clare. It was here in 1206 that St.Francis heard the word of God and began his religious life.  In 1210, the 16 years old Clare heard Francis speaking and chose to leave her wealthy family to become a nun. She lived for the remainder of her life at San Damiano, taking a vow of poverty

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The photograph by Ferdinand Schmutzer has been digitally colourised.

London street children

A photograph from the early 20th century. Digitally colorised from a black and white original.

The Nurse

The child in this photograph looks the picture of health. The scene has perhaps been staged for a photo shoot. Originally a black and white image,  it has been digitally colourised.

The Village Blacksmith

Chapel Lawn is a tiny community in South West Shropshire, not far from the Welsh Border but a good distance from any town of importance. The blacksmith was an important local craftsman for this was a time when almost all rural transport still depende upon the horse.  Photographed between 1910 and 1920, Chapel Lawn will have changed little over the past century.
The image has been digitally colourised from a black and white original.

All The Girls Love A Sailor

Elizabeth Taylor poses with the French Navy at the Cannes Film Festival in 1950

Happy Halloween

In the early 20th century, a group of English women dress as witches.  

All Hallows Eve was rarely celebrated in England at that time, being more usually associated with Ireland or the United States. 

These witches however , are scary enough to send a shiver down anybody's spine.

Cyprus in the past

Cyprus pictured in 1918. The centre span of this bridge could be lifted to allow small boats to pass.

A camel train rests in a Larnaca street. These were commonly used as pack animals in Cyprus in the days before construction of an adequate road network.

A street market in Famagusta photographed in the early 1950s, close to Agia Sophia church. On the left, elderly Turkish men while away the hours at a cafe and traders wait for custom.

 In an unknown village a group of women rest between agricultural work.

Ledra Street is Nicosia's main shopping thoroughfare seen here in the 1950s. This is the Northern end, just beyond the crossing point between the Greek and Turkish districts. The scene has changed little although many of these shops now sell fake designer clothes to tourists.

The Famagusta Gate in Nicosia is one of the four original entrances to the old city. The old city is surrounded by ancient walls, the gates were once closed at th  evening curfew time. Famagusta Gate how houses a small museum.http://www.tunnelbreeze.com/2017/02/tearful-goodbye.html

Shepherds and goatherds in Cyprus seem to have an affinity with their charges which isn't shared by their colleagues in other lands. Whilst Western European farmers keep a well trained dog to control their flocks, their Cypriot equivalents sismply talk to their animals which always respond accordingly

Before the days of farm mechanisation, threshing near Larnaca. The farmer sits on a makeshift platform drawn by oxen. No doubt this method worked even if rather unhttp://www.tunnelbreeze.com/2017/02/vintage-aviation-in-colour.htmlcomfortable and slow.

Making deliveries early in the 20th century. A familiar name in Cyprus but these days better known for beer.

Women gather at the village well to draw water. Photograph by Thompson in 1878

This photograph also by Thompson shows a bullock cart in 1878.  In the background, a large number of camels are resting.  The buildings feature a bell tower and are perhaps a monastery.

John Thompson's photograph of Larnaca waterfront shows a scene which is unrecognizable 140 years later.

Eleftheria Square in Nicosia, probably in the late 1950s. This scene has changed little althouhh the vehicles will now be modern and the British style phone boxes have no doubt been replaced.

Loading oranges at Famagusta in the early 1950s. A large number of porters ensures that the ship only has to stay in port for a short time.

The Larnaca waterfront in the old Turkish Quarter of the city.

Inside the Warsaw Ghetto 1941

 By November of 1940, all Jewish residents of Warsaw were ordered to re-locate to the enclosed ghetto in the Polish capital. It became home to nearly half a million people who were forbidden to leave. The penalty for escape or for aiding the population was death.
Accommodation was extremely crowded, on average, 10 people occupied a single room. Those people who were re-located from other parts of the city could only bring with them a minimum of possessions and often lived in extreme poverty. There was little employment and people resorted to street trading and sometimes smuggling.
Food supplies were limited by the German occupiers to an absolute minimum and many people were to die of starvation and from disease which was rife.
These photographs were taken in 1941 by Willy Georgin who was issued with a pass to enter the ghetto in order to record what he saw. Although his last film was confiscated by German police, he managed to smuggle a number of reels out of the Ghetto.
The original monochrome photos have been digitally colourised.

 

A young boy sells newspapers fom a street stand. All residents were required to wear an armband bearing the Star of David. A number of these are on sale.

 

 An elderley resident poses for the camera

 Two gentlemen cross a courtyard while children look on,  fascinated by the cameraman

 Street trading was the only occupation for many and this man has set up a makeshift stall.

 Poverty is evident from the way in which this man is dressed. His rundown shop has little stock for sale.

Still trading as a clock and watchmaker, this shop also sells a range of provisions.

 A few secondhand books might bring in some much needed income.

 A game of chance. An old chair, a wooden box and some coloured pebbles. This young boy looks for an opportunity to earn a little money.

 Women shoppers clamour for the few vegetables available in the street market.

Life appears to continue as normal in a once prosperous shopping street. Note that the carters, although Jewish, wear an official uniform.

George Barbier - The Birth of Art Deco

Georges Barbier was perhaps the most famous French illustrator of the 20th Century and a leader and influencer of the Art Deco movement.  His work has its own, readily identifiable style and is known for illustrating the fashions of the period.  His work however, extended well beyond the field of illustration.  He became famous for his costume designs for the theatre and ballet. Barbier illustrated books, designed wallpaper, fabrics,  jewellery and glass. he wrote numerous essays and magazine articles and designed costumes and sets for the Folies Bergere. Barbier was the leading member of a group of fashionable and flamboyant artists and designers who became known as "The Knights Of The Bracelet"
Georges Barbier died in 1932 at the age of 50. He was at the pinnacle of his career.

Barbier was born and grew up in Nantes in a prosperous and bourgeois family. His life in Paris was in marked contrast. Many of his friends and associates were from the Parisien homosexual society and he appears to have been disowned by his family. On his death, he was buried in Nantes, very discretely, and his family quickly forgot him.  His library was auctioned off and his collections of European and Asian erotica was donated to the Bibliotheque Nationale where it was stored in a section of works that might offend public decency.

Barbier and his work was quickly forgotten by the public and French society and it wasn't until 2007 that an exhibition of his work was shown in public "George Barbier - The Birth of Art Deco" at the Fortuny Museum in Venice.

L.Envie 1925

 

Les Fetes Galantes - 1928

Au Lido

 

Incantation. A flapper in coral and pink and a couple at the piano.

Canvas Wall Art

The Taste of Shawls. One of many of Barbier's works depicting lesbians

Imperial  Procession

One of Barbier's Vingt cinq costumes for the Paris theatre

La Belle Personne 1924

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