Studio: international art (88.1924)

PARIS

admiration for all things pertaining to the
art of the Chinese and Persian painters,
and early Egyptian sculptors, from whose
work, especially that of the latter, a thought-
ful study by many artists would perhaps
clarify their views on how much they had
to learn, as well as to unlearn, to be able
to realise lasting qualities in their own
work. E. A. T.

PARIS. — Among the foreign artists
whose works have been favourably
received in England we may number M.
Costantini, Italian by birth, French by
adoption, and recently appointed member
of the R.I. in London. 000
M. Costantini was born in Sicily in
1882. He commenced his studies at the
Palermo Academy and from there went on
to that of Venice, at the age of sixteen.
In this city, thanks to the International
Exhibitions, he became familiar with the
work of Besnard, Simon, Sargent, Brang-
wyn and Zorn, all of which greatly im-
pressed him. Wishing to follow in the
steps of those whom he took as masters,
he came to Paris in 1906 and exhibited
several canvases at the Artistes Francais
and the Independents, passing the next
year into the Nationale, where, in 1911 he
was made associate, on the strength of a
painting called The Cherry Tree, at present
in the Luxembourg. Two years later he
was made full member. 000
About this time, M. Costantini, who
had hitherto worked only in oils, came
under the influence of Simon, and turned
his thoughts to water-colour. He used
it first to take in a quick and practical way
the notes from nature which he worked up
later in the studio. Then he became
attracted by the intrinsic qualities of the
new means of expression, the necessary
freshness of the tones, their fluidity, and
above all their transparency, so indis-
pensable for figures and so difficult of
attainment in oils. So, reversing his
former process, M. Costantini began to
make his nature notes in oils and translate
these into large compositions in water-
colour. Happy in the possession of a
faculty for very correct and rapid drawing,
most adapted to work in water-colour,
which allows no second thoughts (some-
times even working without taking up
106

any premeditated position), it was only
natural that he should at once attain to
that mastery which has gained him the
honour of election to the Royal Institute
last year, with On the Cliff and a study for
part of The Communicants. 0 0

M. Costantini, an artist of delicate
sensibility, fully alive to fine shades of
feeling and considerations of aesthetic
value, believes that water-colour, as he
has come to treat it, in large surfaces, is
the medium which gives the fullest play
to his powers. He has not, however,
abandoned oils, which he uses constantly
as well for his large compositions as for
his nudes and his excellent portraits but
under the influence of his water-colour
technique, his procedure in oils has
become transformed also in the sense that
he seeks for free and fresh tones a far
as oils will permit. This search has pro-
duced noteworthy results, very salutary
in view of the heavy, opaque and chalky
paintings so much in vogue in some
quarters. 0000a

M. Costantini has always kept clear of
coteries. His time is divided between

" mere et enfant." water-
colour by v. costantini