Arts & Culture

A Greek Portfolio

A poignant document of Greece and its people in the 1960s

Constantine Manos

Constantine Manos | A Greek Portfolio Shepherds with goat. Crete, Greece. 1962. © Constantine Manos | Magnum Photos
Constantine Manos | A Greek Portfolio Going home from the fields in Kritsa. Crete, Greece. 1962. © Constantine Manos | Magnum Photos
Constantine Manos | A Greek Portfolio Playing in the square in Elounta. Crete, Greece. 1962. © Constantine Manos | Magnum Photos
Constantine Manos | A Greek Portfolio Shepherd holds head in hand in Sfakia. Crete, Greece. 1962. © Constantine Manos | Magnum Photos
Constantine Manos | A Greek Portfolio Grandmother carding wool. Crete, Greece. 1962. © Constantine Manos | Magnum Photos
Constantine Manos | A Greek Portfolio Blind man in doorway of his house. Crete, Greece. 1962. © Constantine Manos | Magnum Photos
Constantine Manos | A Greek Portfolio Man and child in Church. Karpathos, Greece. 1962. © Constantine Manos | Magnum Photos
Constantine Manos | A Greek Portfolio At church in Olympos. Karpathos, Greece. 1962. © Constantine Manos | Magnum Photos
Constantine Manos | A Greek Portfolio Shepherd at market. Crete, Greece. 1962. © Constantine Manos | Magnum Photos
Constantine Manos | A Greek Portfolio Dancing at a wedding. Thrace, Greece. 1962. © Constantine Manos | Magnum Photos
Constantine Manos | A Greek Portfolio The Olympos village school. Karpathos, Greece. 1962. © Constantine Manos | Magnum Photos
Constantine Manos | A Greek Portfolio Woman at graveside. Pirgos Dirou, Greece. 1962. © Constantine Manos | Magnum Photos
Constantine Manos | A Greek Portfolio Man reading newspaper. Chania, Greece. 1962. © Constantine Manos | Magnum Photos
Constantine Manos | A Greek Portfolio Class of students at the Olympos village school. Karpathos, Greece. 1962. © Constantine Manos | Magnum Photos
Constantine Manos | A Greek Portfolio Watching the dance. Karpathos, Greece. 1964. © Constantine Manos | Magnum Photos
Constantine Manos | A Greek Portfolio Boys playing. Crete, Greece. 1962. © Constantine Manos | Magnum Photos
Constantine Manos | A Greek Portfolio Girl in a doorway. Crete, Greece. 1962. © Constantine Manos | Magnum Photos
Constantine Manos | A Greek Portfolio Singing men in Olympos. Karpathos, Greece. 1962. © Constantine Manos | Magnum Photos

Living in Greece for three years, Constantine Manos traveled the countryside in search of images that capture the character and beauty of a way of life that had been virtually unchanged for centuries. These pictures are the record of random wanderings in places where the only sound might be the distant tinkling of sheep bells, where hospitality for the stranger is a sacred tradition, and where time has stood still against a backdrop of rural simplicity and serenity.

With masterly insight, Manos opened his shutter on those moments that distill the essence of character and occasion to create a series of images that are timeless in their expression of the quality of life in rural Greece. Etched into the faces he found are strength and dignity that reflect survival, honor, and continuity. The book, first published in 1972, has become a sought-after classic. For this new edition of A Greek Portfolio Manos has gone back into his files to find previously unpublished images that further enhance the beauty and depth of this body of work.

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