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004622 Frixos Aristefs, Kambia, 1936, oil on canvas, 50 × 66 cm

When he visited the northern part of the island, the painter had to face difficult conditions. ‟Many times in some poor villages I was forced to sleep on the ground [...]. Many times I had for dinner dry bread and broad beans. And I crossed cliffs and dangerous places”, he recalled in his Autobiography. One of the ‟bad places”, as the locals called them, was the village of Kambia, a mountainous settlement at the foot of Mount Pelinaion in Northern Chios. It is surrounded by an impressive landscape, dominated by a gorge and the Castle of Kambia. Aristefs chose a general view of the village, which allowed him to capture not only the buildings but also the surrounding lands. The houses are painted either white or ochre and are assimilated with the warm colours of the low hills. In the background, the grey-blue imposing mass of the Pelinaion accentuates the wild, rocky character of the landscape. The rough drawing, the harsh colouring, and, above all, the thorough study of the strong sunlight characterize this composition, one of the simplest and least graphic of the entire series: an image indicative of the mountainous, poor region.