{"id":20564,"date":"2025-06-06T01:30:32","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T22:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nationalgallery.gr\/?artwork=owls"},"modified":"2025-06-06T01:30:32","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T22:30:32","slug":"owls-5565","status":"publish","type":"artwork","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalgallery.gr\/en\/artwork\/owls-5565\/","title":{"rendered":"Owls"},"content":{"rendered":"

Initially committed to realistic depictions of the human figure since the 1930s \u2013 sculpting in plaster and bronze, or carving directly into stone \u2013 Bella Raftopoulou gradually moved towards stylisation and simplification, a shift that peaked in the mid-1950s. Her “Owls”, created as she began incorporating animal motifs into her work in the 1950s and carved directly into stone, is the largest and most striking of her animal-themed works. Comprising three separately oriented blocks from which roughly carved owl heads emerge, the sculpture radiates a sense of calm and stillness, as if the birds were roosting in a tree under cover of night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Initially committed to realistic depictions of the human figure since the 1930s \u2013 sculpting in plaster and bronze, or carving directly into stone \u2013 Bella Raftopoulou gradually moved towards stylisation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207060,"template":"","artwork_category":[],"artwork_type":[4,65],"location":[],"class_list":["post-20564","artwork","type-artwork","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","artwork_type-glyptiki","artwork_type-sculpture"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nOwls - National Gallery<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalgallery.gr\/en\/artwork\/owls-5565\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Owls - National Gallery\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Initially committed to realistic depictions of the human figure since the 1930s \u2013 sculpting in plaster and bronze, or carving directly into stone \u2013 Bella Raftopoulou gradually moved towards stylisation […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nationalgallery.gr\/en\/artwork\/owls-5565\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"National Gallery\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nationalgallery.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/65209_2000_2000.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"564\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nationalgallery.gr\\\/en\\\/artwork\\\/owls-5565\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nationalgallery.gr\\\/en\\\/artwork\\\/owls-5565\\\/\",\"name\":\"Owls - 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