Showing posts with label Bad Kreuznach. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bad Kreuznach. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 9, 2021

 


The "Little Venice on the Ellerbach" area of Bad Kreuznach, in an old photograph - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com

Costantino Proietto Paintings of Bad Kreuznach, Germany and Cattolica, Italy - 2015

In late 2012, I wrote about a newly discovered oil painting by artist Costantino Proietto (1910-1979). On the back, the red felt-tipped inscription read “Bad Kreuznach”, which is an ancient town in Germany. In 1964, the artist had sold the painting to Ms. Marion Fortune, an American working in Germany at that "Bad Kreuznach", by 20th century artist Costantino Proietto - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.comtime. Her heir, Ms. Shelly Jenkins had recently received the painting and had planned to keep it. In early 2014, Ms. Jenkins changed her mind and sold the painting to me.

Upon its arrival, I gently cleaned the painting and then added a new custom frame. Otherwise, it looked as it did when Tino painted it, fifty years ago. Still, there was mystery surrounding the painting. With its depiction of a river scene and prominent buildings, I assumed that someone would know more about the setting. As I have learned, if I put C.Proietto images out for the
Ms. Petra Tursky-Hartmann in an undated photo - Click for 2013 image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)world to see, someone will write and help me identify a particular scene.

In July of 2014, Ms. Petra Tursky-Hartmann of Frankfurt, Germany wrote to me regarding the location featured in my newly acquired C.Proietto painting. At that time, she wrote,
“The two pictures show a place called ‘Little Venice on the Ellerbach’ in Bad Kreuznach (I’m born in Bad Kreuznach). The painting shows the place where the small river ‘Ellerbach’ is flowing into the larger ‘Nahe’ river. It is an historical place, where the skinners lived during the last century. Due to several floods, they were allowed to fix there balconies high over the river. Because of the heavy smell from their work, it was not the best place to go. Still, many poor people had lived there for hundreds of years. Today, animal processing is no longer allowed, but these kinds of balconies still hang over the river ‘Ellerbach’.

In the early 1960s, Bad Kreuznach was a very big American Army base; nearly 10.000 soldiers were there. So maybe, Mr. Proietto was there for an exhibition, sold paintings and then painted “Little Venice” in Bad Kreuznach. Maybe not … Who knows? One more mystery.”


Confluence of the Ellerbach and Nehe Rivers in Germany - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)Ms. Tursky-Hartmann then explained that her mother may have purchased her own Costantino Proietto original oil painting while on her honeymoon in 1960, when she was twenty-eight years old. She went on to say, “Maybe, the artist had an exhibition in Bad Kreuznach at that time (1960-1964) and my mother bought the picture of Eden Teraza to remember her honeymoon? (This is pure speculation, but then, the date inscribed, 14360 would fit).”

In a subsequent email, Ms. Tursky-Hartmann provided details that are more accurate about her mother’s C.Proietto original oil painting. Its title is "Cattolica - Terraza Cafe Eden Roco Italia". “Yesterday, I visited my mother in Spabrücken, close to Bad Kreuznach, where she lives with my sister.

"Little Venice on the Ellerbach" section of Bad Kreuznach, Germany - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)I told my mother about your email. She was interested to hear what I read to her, as I translated your email.

My Mother told us, that she started to work in 1952 and went to Italy for holidays during the late 1950s. At that time, she was working as a clerk for the local Court in Bad Kreuznach. In 1959, she accompanied my father to Riccione and Cattolica, where they stayed in the Hotel Moderno.

During her earlier tours, she travelled by bus, with a group. She always had an interest in Italien Culture. In the 1950s, many Germans travelled to Riccione-Cattolica and Rimini. She liked, that the osterias and hotels were close to the sea and that dining and drinks were very cheap, and that the climate was warm.

It was not so easy for Germans to travel through
Artist Tino Proietto painted scenes in, Cattolica, Italy around 1960 - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)Europe after World War II. However, Italiens, she said, had no problems with the Germans, because of Mussolini’s friendship with Hitler. She said that the Germans could have good parties at Rimini.

Once, while in Cattolica, at the Terraza Cafe Eden Roco, she said she saw
a painter - maybe C.Proietto. There were several painters close to the beach offering there paintings. She remembers that this painter painted three pictures on three easels at the same time and with very high speed. With the same colours, he painted each picture.

Selecting one, she liked this picture very much from the first moment. She then bought the picture from the artist for 400 German Marks. The painter rolled the picture in a stovepipe, because she was travelling by bus with a very small suitcase. When back in Bad Kreuznach, she went to the Bechter Gallery, where they put the frame around it.

When I asked her about the year, she did not remember exactly. However, the inscription on the backside of the picture indicates
Pro 14360. If this is true, the picture was finished in March 1960. I was born on June 5, 1960. Therefore, in spring or summer of C.Proitto "Terazza Cafe Eden Roco" painting in the Tursky home in Germany, 1962 - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)1960, she was definitely not in Italy for holidays. My younger sister was born on November 17, 1961, so maybe Mama was in Italy in early spring 1961.

In the photograph, you can see that the Proietto is hanging in our living room on November 17, 1962. That was during the family celebration of my younger sister’s first birthday. Mama then said that it is not important, exactly when she bought the picture. More important is, that she has the picture to remember her most beautiful moments of freedom, for her Grandmother was very strong!


"Cattolica - Terraza Cafe Eden Roco Italia" original oil painting by Costantino Proietto (1910-1979) - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)After mentally digesting everything that Ms. Tursky-Hartmann had written about her mother’s C.Proietto painting, I stopped to think about another C.Proietto I had purchased a year earlier. It too was of a seascape, featuring a prominent pergolato, with a shoreline receding into the distance. Until then, I had no clue as to its location. In his earlier works, Tino Proietto used only his signature to authenticate his own work. Later, in the 1960s and beyond, he applied a wax seal to the corner of a sticker, which authenticated each new painting.

After reviewing the details of the Tursky-Hartmann C.Proietto, I recognized certain elements contained within it. For instance, the distinctive latticework wall and the potted plants were almost identical to the ones in my mystery
Right-hand view of Terazza Cafe Eden Roco in Cattolica Italy, by artist Tino Proietto matches the left-hand view above - Click for larger image (https://jamesmcgillis.com)painting. If Costantino Proietto stood near the shore at Terraza Cafe Eden Roco, painting the same scene from three different angles, the result would be a tryptic, showing the broader scene.

Although painted later than mine, the Tursky-Hartmann painting would form the left panel of the tryptic. The author’s painting would form the right panel. Where, I wondered, would I find the middle panel? I surmised that it would show the scene, looking straight out to sea. As happens so often with C.Proietto paintings, they provide some answers to aspects of the mystery. Likewise, each new C.Proietto painting brings new questions with it.

Proof that both paintings are of the same scene is seen in the potted plants and lattice-work in the wall - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)With his self-designation as a “kunstmaler” (meaning production painter, in German), it could only have been Costantino Proietto at Terraza Cafe Eden Roco simultaneously creating three paintings. Why paint only one masterpiece when, as the “master of impasto”, you can paint three at a time? That would be the consummate artist, Tino Proietto, in his mid-century prime.

I offer my thanks to both Ms. Petra Tursky-Hartmann and her mother. First, they identified the location of the Marion Fortune C.Proietto as “Little Venice” in Bad Kreuznach. Then, they went on to explain the history of both known
Costantino Proietto "Terraza Cafe Eden Roco" paintings, being theirs and my own.


By James McGillis at 06:48 PM | Fine Art | Comments (0) | Link

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

A Costantino Proietto Masterpiece Passes to a New Generation - 2012

 


A Costantino Proietto original oil painting of Bad Kreuznach, Germany now owned by the Jenkins Family in Orlando, Florida, USA - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)

A Costantino Proietto Masterpiece Passes to a New Generation

In November 2012, Mrs. Shelly Jenkins of Orlando, Florida wrote to me about a Costantino Proietto painting that she had recently inherited. Her great, great aunt, Ms. Marian J. Fortune of Brevard, North Carolina had died in May 2012 at age seventy-nine. In her will and bequeathed to Shelly Jenkins was one of only two known Costantino Proietto original oil paintings of Bad Kreuznach, Germany. The other features the medieval and marvelous bridge houses, built over the Nahe River.

For eight years during the 1950’s and 1960’s, Ms. Fortune was a Physical Education Teacher for the U.S. Department of Defense School for American Dependents, in Bad Kreuznach. After World War II, the artist exhibited his paintings at Allied bases and later at NATO base post exchanges. On the back of this painting reads, a “DM 360.” pencil marking might represent a price of 360 Deutschmark.

Detail from the C.Proietto oil painting of Bad Kreuznach, Germany, ca 1964 - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)According to cousin, Nunzio LoCastro, as early as 1951, a Costantino Proietto’s painting could command a price of 200 Deutschmark. If Marian Fortune was in Bad Kreuznach in 1964, the “Pro 11364” pencil marking on the back might represent a purchase date of November 3, 1964. With inflation and ongoing recognition of the artist’s work, DM 360 would be a reasonable price for a 40” X 20” C.Proietto original oil painting at that time.

If such was the case, it is likely that Costantino Proietto himself sold this painting to Ms. Fortune. After all, Bad Kreuznach and the artist’s studio in Stuttgart were little more than two hours away from each other. The tag and wax seal affixed to the back of the painting are consistent with his other 1960’s works. The 40” X 20” (a 4:2 aspect ratio) is similar to other Tino Proietto 1960’s “CinemaScope” style paintings. Most of his earlier works had a 4:3 aspect ratio, which is similar 35-mm film. The flattened horizontal lines within the artist’s signature are consistent with his later works, when his signature became more stylized.

Signature of the artist "C.Proietto", on the Jenkins' family painting - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)Although many C.Proietto landscapes display a romantic or timeless quality, to my knowledge the artist painted only real places. Although I am not aware of its exact location, the painting probably depicts a river scene in Bad Kreuznach. Since the artist worked from both photographs and sketches, this painting may have originated from either or both of those sources.

Even when darkened with dust or soot, Tino Proietto’s paintings age with grace. Although there is some darkening in the sky and several small chips or spills on the canvas, a good technician could remove those without damaging the overall piece. Older canvases may be dry and brittle, so avoiding impacts to their surfaces is especially important. By mixing cigarette ashes into his pigments, Costantino Proietto often “pre-aged” his paintings. For that reason, I would not suggest a full-scale restoration of the painting. Doing so may destroy more value than it creates.

Detail from the Tino Proietto painting of Bad Kreuznach, Germany - Click for larger image (http://jamesmcgillis.com)Looking at the back, frame construction appears to be of particleboard, which was inexpensive at the time. In order to bring out the full beauty of the painting, I suggest a professional re-framing. The framer should use extreme caution while separating the canvas from the frame. Upon separation from the frame, some long-dried paint may lift from the canvas.

This painting of Bad Kreuznach exhibits Proietto’s penchant for foreground (water grasses), middle ground (various buildings) and then a fade into the background (mountains/sky). The two red-tiled buildings in the upper-right and the blue-roofed building on the left received a heavier dose of impasto (palate knife) technique. Note the red flowers on the balconies and walls. Almost every C.Proietto landscape features red flowers somewhere in the canvas. Also, note the realistic appearance of the buildings in the center of the painting. Close inspection shows that the artist used very few strokes to create the effect. To see a C.Proietto painting in all of its glory, I suggest good natural light and a viewing distance of about ten feet.

This heavily watermarked image is of a C.Proietto original oil painting of Besigheim am Neckar, Germany sold at auction several years ago (http://jamesmcgillis.com)As with each C.Proietto I have ever seen, this is a timeless and beautiful painting. As a collector of the artist’s work, I pictured it hanging on my wall. After I made an offer to purchase the Jenkins Family C.Proietto, Shelly Jenkins wrote back, saying, “We were so thrilled when we heard that Marian Fortune willed the painting to us. We did not get much opportunity to visit with her during her lifetime and her thought was memorable”. Although Shelly Jenkins would not sell her C.Proietto mid-century masterpiece, I thank her for offering to share her painting with the world.

 


By James McGillis at 06:34 PM | Fine Art | Comments (0) | Link