LONDON.- Three paintings by the Greek artist Yiannis Moralis sold for a combined total of over £450,000 at Bonhams sale of Greek Art in London today (25 November).

Full Moon L, painted in 1977, was sold for £266,550 having been estimated at £220,000-280,000. The work demonstrates Moralis’s superb grasp of solid compositional structure, purity of form and harmonious proportions and was keenly contested.

Epithalamion - estimate £60,000-80,000 – was bought for £122,500. The painting belongs to his Epithalamia series from the 1960s and the picture space is defined by an intricate fabric of highly abstractive shapes, with the bodies of a man and a woman approaching each other and merging into a single form.

Moralis was a painter of the 30s Generation. Known as a master of geometric abstraction his work is characterised by solid compositional structures as seen in the third work Positive which sold for £74,500 against an estimate of £50,000-70,000.

Elsewhere in the sale, Hydra Composition in Black by Ghika made an above estimate £98,500 (estimate £40,000-60,000) and Georgias Bouzianis’s important Portrait of a Lady from 1923 was sold for £62,500.

Bonhams Greek specialist, Olympia Pappa said, “In an undeniably demanding market it was encouraging to see Moralis continue to make such a strong showing – an indication of the enduring popularity of his work among collectors.”