Our acquaintance, friendship and work with Theodore Antoniades developed in a short space of time, as happens with people who, at their very first meeting, already feel that they are linked up by a common bond. With his splendid appearance, his knowledge, his warmth, his generosity, he found an ideal outlet in his post as Director of the Municipal Art Gallery of Rhodes.
     Moreover, from its own point of view, the Municipal Gallery of Rhodes had found in him the rare combination of a professional manager of an art institute who was at the same time an artist, a Rhodian and yet far from 'provincial' in character. He was something much more. He was truly 'international' not only because the experience he gained in these countries was an integral part of his personality. Thus he was open to every kind of stimulation whether it be from Rhodes itself, from his close circle of frieds, from Rhodian artists or from elsewhere.
     For Theodore Antoniades art was not limited by man-made frontiers. Theodore Antoniades settled in quickly and was truly at home at the Gallery. He did not have set working hours. Seven days a week, he would work until late in the afternoon trying to solve some problem or other. Our permanent subject of conversation was the Gallery, its programme, its collection. A nucleus of people grew up around the Gallery, people who gave their entire support to its first Director.
     Even those who loved him and worked with him did not realise how quickly he would make his mark on Rhodes and its Gallery. We saw him taking decisions and making progress with such speed that we asked ourselves why he was in such a rush, since he had so much time before him. He was also able to learn very quickly. The mark of an intelligent man is that he is able to assimilate new ideas. He was a man of vision who at the same time had realistic plans and a clear idea of his own capabilities.
     Theodore felt insecure and irritable in his work only when faced with people who were unfamiliar with art, people who viewed him with mistrust because he was so young. He did not reject these feelings, they troubled him and he discussed them with the people he loved.
     He would 'arm' himself by wearing a discreet flower in his lapel, which he claimed would soften the heart of the most unyielding bureaucrat. I became acquainted with this more personal side to Antoniadeslmore as a result of lour work together in the Gallery and I know that I am in no way complimenting him because he is no longer with us.
     It was on the 19th of May 1988 (a month with two full moons) that Theodore died in such a terrible way. The farewell was difficult, conversations half-finished, exhibitions hanging in mid-air, plans incomplete.
     It was not our intention to decide on a course of action which would turn his living presence in the Gallery into something that Theodore himself would never have wanted to be - a 'framed picture' hanging in the Gallery.
     However, his death provided us with a big surprise: his works of art. One after the other, the canvases were unwrapped from the package which had arrived from America. Starting with his later works, some of which had been exhibited in 1986 in Rhodes, and going right back to the beginning of his career before he went to America, the canvases were unfolded before our eyes. We also discovered Antoniades the painter of religious subjects (an activity he had never mentioned), and the valuer of precious stones.
     The notes he left behind, revealed to us the restless artist, conscious of the mutliplicity of civilisations he lived in. He does not try to find himself from within these civilisations, but, as is typical of 'contemporary' man, he first tries to find the answers he is looking for, from within himself. self. Reading the notes (written towards the end of 1985, always in the early hours of the morning) and asking old friends and teachers, we pieced together another part of his personality: Africa with its lively colours, abundant nature, the many facets of cut diamonds, the strict, ordered detail of each Byzantine painting, the heavy artistic legacy of Ancient Greece, all waiting to be read by the art historian. From his notes we understood the intelligent way in which he managed to link his own artistic quests with successful managerial decisions in his work as Art Director of the Gallery. And so now, we know that the conception and organisation of the exhibition. 'SpatiaI Organisation in Art"was based on his personal research into the subject of man's imposition of human "order" on the di- sorder of shapes, forms and the masses of nature. He was certain that the wide-ranging collection of the Gallery could, if presented in thematic units, give us some answers to similar artistic and human problems.
     Here, we present to the friends and scholars of art what we have of our beloved friend and colleague: The work of the artist Theodore Antoniades (1960-1988).