Peristerona

A member of the London group since 1915, the artist was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy. His paintings were used by the Cyprus Government Office in London to attract tourists, especially his views of Kyrenia. White was inspired by the Cypriot countryside and in this painting he mixed together the various elements – the people, the animals and the monuments. His choice of colours is truthful to the landscape, strong yellows reflecting the heat, pale greens and shades of brown. The church and its steeple are visible but, because the perspective of the picture is from the east, the mosque cannot be seen. In the right corner behind the figures of a Turkish woman and a peasant there is a typical Cypriot coffee shop with people sitting around in the shade of extended roofs held up by wooden poles. The co-existence of the Turks and Greeks is recorded by the church and by the long blue robes of the Turkish woman in the foreground. It is worth mentioning that the village of Peristerona always impressed the visitors because of the proximity of its two different religious buildings and the strong cooperation between its inhabitants. This inspired the Russian poet Yevgeni Yeftuchenko to write a poem in 1973 about the village entitled Peristerona.