Rare, 1934, Le Voyage en Grece, Neptos Paris, Greece, Le Corbusier, Fernand Leger, Roger Vitrac, Giorgio De Chirico

Published between 1934 and 1939, the magazine “Le Voyage en Grèce” appears as one of the most accomplished editorial adventures of the interwar period. Its content is inseparable from the aspirations of its director Heracles Joannides, representative in Paris of the Neptos tourism company, who wanted to “create a link between Greece and its travelers through contemporary writers, artists and scholars”. The result of this exceptional openness, which had the effect of bringing classicism closer to the avant-gardes, far exceeded what could have been expected from a company initially aimed at tourism. The Neptos company, which belonged to the Greek shipowner Leonidas Embiricos, organized cruises in the Mediterranean in the footsteps of Ulysses (“The Stopovers of Ulysses”) with the ship Patris II, following a proposal by Joannides to revive tourism in Greece. Primarily intended for the passengers of the Patris II, “Le Voyage en Grèce” promoted its archaeological itineraries, organized under the patronage of the National Museums and the École du Louvre. Joannides, with his friend and compatriot Tériade – who became the artistic advisor of “Le Voyage en Grèce” after leaving the editorial board of the luxurious art magazine “Minotaure” – brought art, literature and archaeology into dialogue in an unprecedented spirit of synthesis, calling on collaborators from all walks of life: Le Corbusier, Giorgio De Chirico, Pierre Reverdy, André Derain, Gustave Fougères, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Roger Caillois, Marguerite Yourcenar, Jean Charbonneaux, Jacques Prévert, Roger Vitrac, Henri Matisse, Hubert Pernot, Raymond Queneau, Fred Boissonnas, Michel Leiris, Pierre de La Coste-Messelière, Fernand Léger, François Mauriac, Jean Cassou, Waldemar Deonna.