Sailor with a pink face

'A friend of mine, now the retired judge G.K., helped me by posing in 1938 wearing a blue shirt. One more good session was needed to finish the work. He didn't come however on the day we had arranged. I telephoned his mother and she answered: "He's been in the navy for many days now. Maybe he'll have a day off tomorrow." In fact, on the following day, he came in a great hurry, wearing naval uniform. I drew him twice sitting in a padded armchair and asked him to come again two or three times so that I could make a few small paintings of him wearing his naval uniform. The meetings resulted in the paintings "Sailor in an armchair with a pink face" and "Sailor in an armchair with a yellowish face". This is how the sailor entered my repertoire. ' Yannis Tsarouchis