Λιθί

004625 Frixos Aristefs, Lithi, 1936, oil on canvas, 50 × 66 cm

Lithi, in southwestern Chios, is one of the 24 villages that make up the Municipality of Mastichochoria—yet its inhabitants were primarily engaged in fishing. The painter noted in his Autobiography: “In Lithi, I spent a very quiet time, although, in order to paint the general view, I was forced to climb with great effort up a ridge.” However, the painting does not reveal to the viewer the difficulty of its execution. The distant, panoramic view of the small village presents a rather picturesque, idyllic image. In the foreground begins a gentle hill; at the top, the village houses are clustered tightly together. Further back, the ridgeline separates the land from the sky, essentially dividing the composition into two large triangles. The contrast between cool, light green tones and the warm reds and ochres (in the land zone) dominates the picture, while the sky zone is more subdued, painted in cool hues of pale blue and clouded white.