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 time. 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 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.”

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.

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 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 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!”

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 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.

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.

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

Costantino Proietto (1910-1979) Painted Scenes of Locarno/Ascona at Lago Maggiore, Switzerland - 2013

 

Costantino Proietto (1910-1979) Painted Scenes of Locarno/Ascona at Lago Maggiore, Switzerland

Recently, Ms. Dawn Allen of Greensboro, North Carolina wrote to me about her mother’s two Costantino Proietto (1910-1979) original oil paintings. Similar to other recent C.Proietto painting discoveries, Dawn’s parents acquired the pair while living in Germany during the early 1950s.

Her father, Joseph Edgar Allen, was a Master Sergeant in the U.S. Army, stationed at Wallace Barracks in the Bad Cannstatt district of Stuttgart,  Germany. Dawn recalled, “My father was part of the 66th Counter Intelligence Corps Group (CIC), which used the Wallace Barracks installation during the 1950s. Although called a barracks, according to my mother there was no on-base housing”.

She went on to say, “They lived in an apartment through ‘German requisition housing’ at Saarstraße 13 E, . Some regular German apartment complexes were designated for U.S. military. My mother, Mary Alice Allen recalls one side of the street being for U.S. military, with German citizens living across the street. After his first deployment to Stuttgart, he went to Fort Holabird in Baltimore, Maryland and then back to Stuttgart. They purchased both paintings during his first tour in Stuttgart”.

One day in 1953, Mr. Costantino Proietto knocked on their door, selling his artwork. They purchased a single oil painting, later buying another. The paintings hung in her parents’ apartment in Germany and then traveled to Baltimore Maryland. When Ed Allen retired, the couple moved to Brevard, North Carolina, where both paintings continue hanging in the Allen home.

Dawn Allen continued, “I’ve attached photos of the two oil paintings, plus two receipts for purchase of the paintings, which my mother had kept all these years. The old photos include one of a C.Proietto painting hanging in their German apartment. Another is of my father at that time, including the same painting hanging on their wall. During a recent visit to her house, my eighty-eight year old mother suggested that we “Google” the artist’s name. It was then that we found the information on your website”.

From family photos, Dawn Allen determined that the first of her mother’s paintings was purchased in 1953 and the other in 1954. Despite her age and sixty years gone by, Mary Alice Allen knew exactly where to find the original receipts for the paintings. She recalls that they purchased each painting at a different time. Each time, Mr. Proietto traveled about seven kilometers to the Allen's apartment. Although they did not specifically ask him to return, a few months later Costantino Proietto called again, with more paintings to offer.

What Dawn Allen calls the “Steeple Painting” has an artist’s inscription on the back. It reads, “Lago Maggiore, Locarno, Sv, Ytaliana”. From the inscription, I believe the painting depicts Locarno, Switzerland, including a southern view toward Italy, which is on the far bank of Lago Maggiore. An extensive search of images on the internet does not produce a photograph of that particular steeple, or tower. However, my own original Costantino Proietto oil painting of “Lago Maggiore, Ascona” (bottom of page) depicts a rowboat identical to the one in the Allen Family “Steeple Painting”.

The second Allen Family C.Proietto is harder to place. With no inscription on the back and no mention of subject matter on the receipt, it could be of any Swiss or Italian lake. However, there is one clue that might help place the location of the “Lake House” (above), as the Allen family calls the painting. Immediately after the initial publication of this article, C.Proietto collector Jeffrey Muenker sent me a photo of his own "Lake House" painting (left). Both the Allen Family "Lake House" and the Muenker Family painting appear to have used the same photo as their origin. There are subtle differences, including the absence of a lower window and the addition of a flowering plant on the Muenker Family painting.

Each C. Proietto acquisition story is unique, although many center on American GIs stationed in postwar Germany, and mostly near Stuttgart. The impeccable provenance of the Allen Family C.Proietto paintings is peerless. The receipts pictured here are the first known sales documents created by the artist. Written in Costantino Proietto’s hand and signed by the purchaser, J.E. Allen, they offer some interesting details about the purchases.

The receipt on the left shows a date of “8-10”, indicating final payment (and delivery?) in August or October 1953. It reads, “1 oil painting - DM 200", with 50% down and two additional payments of DM 50. In pencil, at the bottom, the receipt is marked, “Paid”. The other receipt was for DM 115, and paid in full on January 4, 1954 or April 1, 1954, depending on the use of American or European date standards. There is no mention of framing, but Mary Alice Allen tells us that both were sold in identical frames. Most C.Proietto paintings were sold unframed.

At the top of each receipt is a rubber-stamped impression, including the artist’s name and address. Also appearing is the German word, “Kunstmaler”, meaning “Production Painter”, when translated into English. As an Italian, living in Germany during the 1950’s, the artist also included the words, “artista pittoro", loosely translated as “picture artist”.

Despite his skill and expertise, Costantino Proietto painted for the people, often selling his paintings door-to-door or at U.S. Post Exchange exhibitions throughout postwar Germany. The good news for C.Proietto collectors is that there are perhaps thousands of his works hanging undiscovered on walls all over the world.

Proving what a small world we live in, Dawn Allen finished her email to me with the following. “I have seen these two painting hanging on walls all my life. I noticed one of your articles about a person with a C.Proietto painting mentioned a ‘Marion Fortune of Brevard, NC’, who passed away in 2012, willing her prized C.Proietto painting to a niece. My mother, who also lives in Brevard, remembers Ms. Fortune as someone who worked for the local veterinarian, Dr. McPherson. If only Marion and my mother had talked about their Proietto paintings!”

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By James McGillis at 06:13 PM | Fine Art | Comments (2) | Link

An Energy Bridge to the 1930's Opens at Gandria Village, Lake Lugano, Switzerland - 2013

 

An Energy Bridge to the 1930's Opens at Gandria Village, Lake Lugano, Switzerland

Accompanying a recent email from Julia and Lowel Wise of Huntsville, Alabama were images of their Costantino Proietto original oil painting. While stationed as a service member in Stuttgart, Germany during the 1950’s, Lowel’s parents had purchased the painting. Lowel went on to write, “I was excited to see this on the Internet. We had searched back in 2006, but could not locate the artist by name”.

We live in Huntsville, Alabama. The Space & Rocket Center are located here, along with NASA, at the government military installation Redstone Arsenal. It is there where my father was last stationed, and then retired here.

The painting has traveled to many locations with us; from Germany where it's acquisition took place to Ft. Polk, Louisiana (my birth place) and back to Germany, and then back to Ft. Rucker, Alabama, and then to Ft. Wainwright, Alaska for five years, and finally here to Huntsville, Alabama. The painting was purchased on my father’s first tour to Germany, before I was born in 1956 and my older sister’s birth in 1955. She was born in Stuttgart, Germany where my father served two tours in the Army. My father (David J. Wise) served in the Korean War and then the Vietnam Conflict/War where he was an Explosive Ordinance Disposal instructor. After returning from Vietnam at the end of 1972, he retired. My father and mother (Gwinda A. Wise) are deceased. We acquired the painting after my mother’s departure in 2001, and my father’s passing was in 1988.

Since I was a child, the painting has been of particular interest to me. Sometimes, I would sit and stare at it and then wonder… What it would have been like to live in that location and what life would have been like there… Just a simple way of dreaming as any child would do. My father and mother would tell all four of their siblings how they struggled to save and buy one of C. Proietto's paintings while he was on his first tour to Germany. Again THANKS for the information.

In 2006, little if any information about the artist Costantino Proietto (1910–1979) existed on the internet. Not until 2011, when I began writing a series of eleven articles and founded a website about the artist did C.Proietto become widely known. I also met Mr. Nunzio LoCastro, first cousin to the artist, now living in New Jersey. With Nunzio’s help, I compiled an accurate biography of the artist, now published on AskART.com.

Since then, several owners of C. Proietto original oil paintings have sent images to me. Via internet searches, I discovered other examples of the artist’s work for sale in Europe and the United States. Since the Wise family C.Proietto represents the fourth known painting of the same village, I am now publishing images of all four paintings.

In July 2012, I purchased a Costantino Proietto painting identified only as “Villa di Lago”. Although my new painting bore strong resemblance to two C.Proietto paintings of “Lago di Lugano Gandria”, which I had found on the internet, I could not be sure. The artist’s Italian and Swiss lake scenes often contain ancient villas, snowcapped mountains and villages on far shores.

Using the Wise family C.Proietto painting as a guide, I can confirm that both their and my paintings are of Gandria Village, Lake Lugano, Switzerland. By comparing landscape and architectural details with those from the internet images, we now have four confirmed C.Proietto paintings of Gandria Village.

The Wise Family C.Proietto displays the 4:3 width-to-height ratios (27" X 18.75") typical of the artist’s early works. Yet, both it and one later example of the artist’s work depict the same stairs and doorway on the right side of the image. Other old photos show letters above that archway reading, “Ristorante Crivelli, Lago di Lugano-Gandria, Switzerland, 19”. The later C.Proietto painting, probably from the 1960’s, displays a wide-angle format, similar to a Cinemascope movie screen. Even so, because of a near-identical point of view, both paintings likely used the same 1930’s photo as their model.

From Nunzio LoCastro we know that the artist painted in his Stuttgart studio, using photographic prints to model his scenes. During the late 1930’s, the artist traveled extensively in northern Italy and Switzerland. During World War II, Costantino Proietto emigrated to his future lifelong home in Stuttgart, Germany. Using his German-made Leica camera, Costantino Proietto documented a soon to be bygone era. Having seen and photographed the major peaks and lakes of Italy and Switzerland, Tino Proietto was later able to depict with accuracy a simpler, more tranquil time and place. Although the simplicity of the artist’s work appears fanciful to some, I have yet to see evidence that Tino Proietto painted from anything other than real life, or his own photography.

With its lack of markings on the back, the Wise Family “Lugano Gandria” painting (top) is clearly the oldest of the four paintings pictured here, probably dating to the early 1950’s. In the late 1950’s, the artist affixed paper tags to the backs of his paintings. By then, he would often write the subject matter on the frame, in pencil. Later still, he affixed wax seals to the tags, indicating their authenticity. By the late 1960’s, the artist also wrote descriptive captions on the frames, often using a red felt-tipped pen.

With the publication of each new painting, we expand the body of work attributed to twentieth century master impressionist, Costantino Proietto. To keep this expansion going, I invite owners of Costantino Proietto original oil paintings to forward images (front, back, signature and details) to me via email. Please identify purchase location, past and current ownership, plus any details that might help to tell the story. Over time, I will be happy to authenticate and publish images of any newly found C.Proietto impasto oil painting.

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By James McGillis at 12:46 PM | Fine Art | Comments (1) | Link

 

A Published Biography for Twentieth Century Master, Costantino Proietto (1910-1979)

In July 2012, I received an email from Ms. Erin-Marie Wallace, M.A., Director of the Fine Arts Department, America’s Auction Network. While researching an original Costantino Proietto oil painting that was coming up for a televised auction in August 2012, Erin had come across my articles on the artist. At the time, she was pleased to find my original research, but could find little else about C.Proietto on the internet.
 
As a member of the subscription website AskArt.com, Erin Wallace is able to submit biographical information on any “listed artist”. Until now, most art-related websites list the artist as “Constantino Proietto”. I offered to write a short biography on “Costantino Proietto”, which is the proper spelling of the artist’s name. In order to confirm my facts, I spoke with Nunzio LoCastro, a cousin of the artist. From 1951 until the artist’s death in 1979, Nunzio LoCastro knew “Tino” well.
 
If you go to AskArt.com today, you will find the following biography of Costantino Proietto, as submitted by Erin-Marie Wallace M.A. and written by James McGillis, “an independent researcher for Costantino Proietto”.
 
Costantino Proietto (1910 - 1979) – Twentieth Century Italian Impressionist Painter. Born in Catania, Sicily and apprenticed to Prof. Fernand Cappuccio of the Academy of Art, Florence, Italy from 1924 until 1942. During Cappuccio’s restoration of the Basilica of Saint Mary, in Randazzo, Sicily, apprentice Proietto received on-the-job training from the master. In the central vault of the ancient basilica, Proietto’s palette knives restored frescoes and other artwork dating back to the thirteenth century.
 
During World War II, Proietto took the unusual step of emigrating from Italy to Switzerland, to France and finally to Stuttgart, Germany. While in Paris, the artist painted fabric patterns for a commercial fabric house. In 1942, the artist began his independent career in Stuttgart, Germany, where he settled for life. Among local residents and military patrons in Stuttgart, Proietto found a ready market for his self-described “spaddle work”.
 
Proietto’s photo album included prints of romantic locations throughout prewar Italy and Switzerland. When the War curtailed travel, the artist referred to his photo album for new subjects to paint. Other than one early watercolor, perhaps of his common law wife, Gisela, there are no brushstrokes in any known C. Proietto painting. Having earlier mastered the palette knife, the artist’s impasto techniques brought depth and drama to his many landscapes.
 
By the 1950’s the word “Kunstmaler”, which is German for “production painter”, appeared on the artist’s business card. Throughout his career, Proietto painted daily at his atelier, which was only a short walk from his apartment. While painting, Proietto wore slacks and a starched white shirt.
 
Typically, the artist might complete a small painting in a single day. A larger work might take a second day to finish. Such was the speed at which Proietto often worked. Known for his landscapes, the artist featured timeless architecture in every composition. By scraping away or omitting paint on the face of a canvas, Proietto added backlighting to many of his scenes. Although an accomplished portrait artist, Proietto landscapes rarely include more than a tiny human form.
 
From the early 1940’s, until well into 1970’s, the artist continued to paint six or seven days each week. In the early years, he took off for only enough time to market his works. After the War, he broke from his work twice each year. Loading his automobile with unframed works, he would then tour Germany, selling paintings as he traveled. By the early 1960’s, various Allied military bases in West Germany conducted art exhibitions. At those exhibitions, many U.S. and Canadian service members bought Proietto paintings to take back home.
 
Never painting directly from a tube of paint, the artist personally mixed every color that touched his canvases. At times, the chain-smoking artist would flick cigarette ashes into his mix of paint. In the tradition of his cathedral restoration, ashes pre-aged and accentuated the darker colors in his early paintings. In the 1950’s, with the advent of brighter, more durable paint formulas, the artist’s paintings brightened up, as well.
 
In 1957, Proietto visited the U.S., spending time with American cousins on either coast. By then, he had gallery representation and exhibitions in “New York, Los Angeles and Hollywood”.
 
In his later years, Costantino Proietto purchased vacation property at Sanremo, on the Italian Coast. With the strap of his 35-mm Leica camera always around his neck, “Tino” Proietto continued to search for new scenes to paint. Some later C.Proietto paintings depict the Italian Coast at Sanremo. Others, both early and late, depict the Capuchin Convent along the Amalfi Coast.
 
While in his early forties, the artist once told his American cousin, Nunzio LoCastro, “If I died tomorrow, I would regret nothing in my life. I have lived, loved and enjoyed every minute of every day”. True to his word, Costantino Proietto enjoyed each day of his life to the fullest. The artist painted until a year or two prior his death. At age sixty-nine, Costantino Proietto succumbed to an illness caused by toxic lead from his early paints.
 
Proietto’s career spanned at least thirty-five years. With a conservative estimate of one hundred-fifty new paintings each year, that would bring his career total to over five thousand signed originals. With that amazing productivity, the epitaph of Costantino Proietto might read, “Never a bad day; always a great new painting”.
 
On August 6, 2012, I was simultaneously online and on the telephone with America’s Auction Network. Shortly after midnight, EDT, the Costantino Proietto original oil painting came up for auction. After five minutes of furious bidding against another telephone bidder, I placed the successful bid. Until I receive the alpine landscape painting, I have only the photo provided by America’s Auction Network to publish here.
 
With two similar paintings having surfaced over the past year, we know that my new painting includes rural buildings and the Dolomite Mountains in Northeastern Italy. Of the similar C.Proietto paintings, the Karns family owns one and Nunzio LoCastro owns the other. Each painting features different buildings in the foreground, but the rural pathway and the Dolomite Mountains are their unifying elements. When I receive my new C.Proietto alpine painting, I will publish its image and other details here.

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By James McGillis at 04:28 PM | Fine Art | Comments (1) | Link

The Author Purchases a Mysterious "Villa di Lago" C.Proietto Original Oil Painting - 2012

 

The Author Purchases a Mysterious "Villa di Lago" C.Proietto Original Oil Painting

In June 2012, I acquired a previously unknown oil painting by the Italian artist, Costantino Proietto (1910–1979). As soon as my new painting arrived, I shared pictures and descriptions of it on this website. The painting is of the Tiber River and St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Italy. Angled gracefully into the scene are the Castel Sant’Angelo and its attendant bridge, the Ponte Sant’Angelo. In addition, a statue of Archangel Michael unsheathes his mighty sword atop the castle.
 
Soon after publishing that article, I received an email from yet another owner of a C.Proietto painting. Mr. Craig Casey of San Diego had acquired his painting at a friend's moving sale. From images of both the front and back, I was able to study the Casey painting. Although the age of the painting soon became apparent, I could not determine the scene’s geographical location. Knowing that the artist painted real scenes, I searched both my C.Proietto archives and internet photos of Swiss and Italian lakeside villages.
 
During my search, I found only one C.Proietto image similar to the Casey painting. Both paintings featured large, wide-angle views of lakeside villages. The archive painting has a handwritten label, perhaps by the artist. It reads, “Lago di Lugano Gandria”, which translates in English to, “Gandria Village, Lake Lugano”, Switzerland.

After viewing hundreds of Gandria Village photos on the internet, I found that the Casey "Villa di Lago" painting was not a match. Although the artist had painted scenes of Lago di Como, Lago Maggiore and Lago di Lugano, I could not place the Casey painting at any such location. Here, I ask for help from any reader who recognizes this lakeside scene. Please comment below or send an email with geographical candidates for this C.Proietto painting. I will be happy to credit whoever first helps to solve my C. Proietto location mystery.
 
The Casey C.Proietto is a moderately large example of the artist’s work. Most C.Proietto paintings have an aspect ratio of 4:3. Not surprisingly, that ratio is close to that of 35-mm film (4.11:3), from which the artist worked. Originally, the Casey painting was 40” x 20”. During an earlier reconditioning of the piece, someone used shorter, 38” Grumbacher stretcher bars. That action reduced the visible width of the painting by almost two inches, partially obscuring the “C” in the artist’s “C.Proietto” signature.
 
This wide aspect ratio is a clue to the age of the Casey C.Proietto. By 1956, Cinemascope and Panavision lenses, with aspect ratios of almost 2:1 had influenced all the visual arts. Instead of tall, boxy layouts, new paintings, live stages and movies began retooling toward wider, horizontal formats. During his 1957 visit to Southern California, the artist may have viewed wide-screen movies and other examples of this trend. In addition to its wide angle view, the entire composition has a left-standing perspective. Rather than a vanishing point in the center of the scene, we look from left to right and then to the far shore to see the painting as the artist intended.
 
By mid-century, C.Proietto had painted hundreds, if not thousands of original compositions. Thanks to Mr. Casey’s clear photography, we can see many details of the artist’s work. As testament to the Proietto’s technique, many flourishes of his palette knife still stand in raised relief. Over one half century after creation, small waves of paint still curl and shine. After World War II, the reintroduction of foreign trade brought brighter, more durable paints to Proietto’s studio in Stuttgart, Germany. The high quality paint in this piece again indicates a late 1950’s date of origin.
 
On the back of the canvas is another clue to the age of this painting. Still showing traces of the artist’s wax seal, a printed tag adheres to the back of the canvas. First utilized by the artist in the 1950’s, printed tags, seals and the occasional “Certificate of Authenticity” point again to a date of 1957 or later.
 
Translated from German to English, the printed tag reads: “Proietto, Costantino, born in Catania, Sicily, was pupil of Prof. Fernando Cappuccio of the Academy of Florence, has had exhibitions in Palermo, Naples, Rome, Lugano, Stockholm, Stuttgart, Dresden, Los Angeles, Hollywood and New York.”
 
In 1957, Costantino Proietto visited the U.S., spending time with American cousins on either coast. During that trip, he completed his U.S. gallery representation, including exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles and Hollywood. With its mention of Los Angeles and Hollywood, this tag points to a date of origin in 1957, or later.
 
On all of his printed tags, Proietto gave credit to his teacher, “Prof. Fernando Cappuccio” of the Academy of Art, in Florence, Italy.

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By James McGillis at 05:19 PM | Fine Art | Comments (0) | Link

Costantino Proietto Paints the Timeless Glory of Rome - 2012

 

 

Costantino Proietto Paints the Timeless Glory of Rome

In April 2012, Kelli Malone of Lindale, Texas wrote to me about an oil painting that she had recently purchased at a garage sale in her area. Kelli wrote, “East Texas has many flea markets, garage sales and trades days, which I love to attend. My husband and I were out one Saturday, looking for unique things that people have to sell. It was getting late, but I convinced my husband that we should stop at one more garage sale.
 
I spotted the painting right off and just loved it. It was not a typical oil painting but had texture and a beautiful scene of buildings alongside the water. I purchased the painting and then found your website while researching the artist, C.Proietto. I would appreciate any information you can give me about the painting, including if it is an original C.Proietto.”
 
According to Nunzio LoCastro, the first cousin of Costantino Proietto, the artist was prolific. On his business card, he listed his German title as “Kunstmaler”, which translates into English as “production painter”. While stationed in Germany with the U.S. Army between 1951 and 1953, LoCastro regularly visited his Cousin “Tino” in Stuttgart.
 
Nunzio LoCastro tells us that Tino Proietto could finish a small painting in a day, while it might take two days to complete a larger work. After an eighteen-year, unpaid apprenticeship to an art restoration specialist in Randazzo, Sicily, Costantino Proietto settled in Germany before World War II. By the early 1950s, Tino had both an apartment and a separate atelier, where he painted. He produced paintings of “what people wanted to buy”, which included landscapes of well-known Italian and Swiss scenes.
 
Until Easter each year, Costantino Proietto painted six or seven days each week. In the early days, he would then load up his automobile and peddle unframed paintings to individuals and galleries throughout Germany. After his spring sales trip, Costantino would again paint daily until fall. He would then repeat the mobile sales process, with much of his fall collection sold to holiday shoppers.
 
From the 1940’s until the 1970’s, Tino Proietto kept up that pace. By the 1960’s, he joined exhibitions of framed art at various Allied military bases throughout West Germany. Although he died in 1979, Costantino Proietto continued to paint until at least the mid 1970’s. If C.Proietto painted only 100 pictures each year for forty years, that would bring his total to 4000 original oil paintings. My guess is that 4000 paintings would be a minimum, with the possible number of C.Proietto works at least twice that high.
 
The artist, who did not care about fame, priced his works within the reach of soldiers and citizens. According to Nunzio LoCastro, Cousin Tino was an energetic and dedicated artist who regretted nothing in his life. With each newly discovered C.Proietto painting, we learn more about the artist and the pleasure that he brought to so many people around the world.
 
In order to authenticate the Malone C.Proietto painting, I looked first at the signature. As is characteristic with all known C.Proietto paintings, he used a palette knife to execute his signature. Note the strong horizontal lines on the letter “C”. The “dot” is in line with the finishing stroke of the “C”. The “P” is larger than the “C”. The lower horizontal line within the “P” appears as an oval. The “i” is un-dotted. The crossing of the “tt” becomes an upward-rising slash. The bottoms of the letters in “Proietto” form a near-perfect horizontal line. Since these signature characteristics appear in all authentic C.Proietto paintings, I felt certain that the painting was genuine.
 
The content and style of the Malone C.Proietto are consistent with the artist’s other known works. The scene features both water and sky. It also contains strong architectural elements in the middle ground and background. The aspect ratio of the painting is similar to standard 35-mm photographic film. Using photographic prints as models C.Proietto almost always painted in his studio. If you observe the basilica and its outbuildings, you will see a masterful use of texture, color and form.
 
Convinced of its authenticity, I offered to purchase the painting from Kelli Malone. In mid-June, a UPS parcel containing my new C.Proietto masterpiece arrived. The only obvious flaws on the painted surface were a chip of missing paint below the bridge and some cracks in the painted sky. According to Nunzio LoCastro, the painter was a chain-smoker. To accelerate aging of his works and perhaps anticipating later smoke damage, Tino Proietto often mixed his cigarette ashes into the paints on his palate. This pre-aging appears around the Archangel Michael atop the castle.
 
Not recognizing the scene in the painting, I displayed it for guests at a recent dinner party. One individual immediately recognized the scene. In the foreground is the Tiber River, in Rome, Italy. The bridge is the Ponte Sant’Angelo, once the Aelian Bridge, completed in 134 AD, by the Emperor Hadrian. On the right bank of the river is the Mausoleum of Hadrian, completed in 139 AD, one year after the death of Hadrian, himself. Today, the imposing structure is the Castel Sant’Angelo, featuring a statue of the Archangel Michael by the 18th century Flemish sculptor Pieter Verschaffelt atop its ramparts. From the fourteenth century onward, various popes used the mausoleum as a fortress and castle. In the background of the painting is a timeless image of the grand dome of Basilica San Pietro, in Vatican City.
 
Costantino Proietto painted in a Stuttgart studio that featured large windows and northern light. As he painted, light would shine through the canvas from behind. Depending on the effect that the artist desired, he would leave some portions of the canvas almost free of paint. This technique allowed more or less light to shine through from behind.
 
Hoping to discover what Costantino Proietto intended while painting this iconic Roman scene, I placed a lamp behind the picture. Utilizing my crude backlighting technique, the original afternoon scene turned to dusk. The current of the Tiber River reflected back to me in fading light. Horizontal lines on the buildings and the bridge glowed, as if lit from within. Reflecting his genius as a master of the palate knife, alternate images may appear on a single C.Proietto canvas.
 
Many thanks to Kelli Malone for helping to advance our knowledge of twentieth century impressionist master, Costantino Proietto.

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By James McGillis at 02:39 PM | Fine Art | Comments (0) | Link

Two Scenes of Venice by Mid 20th Century Master Costantino Proietto - 2012

 

Two Scenes of Venice by Mid 20th Century Master Costantino Proietto

Recently, Ms. Jennifer Malloy sent me two images of her family’s Costantino Proietto original oil painting. With help from Google Maps and Google Images, I have determined that the main subject of the painting is the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute, in Venice, Italy. The view of the basilica is from across Tronchetto - Lido di Venezia. In the foreground, a gondolier plies a covered craft across the ripples of the lagoon. In the middle ground, sailboats hover in the dying light. Some distance behind the sailboats is the grand basilica, bathed in reflected pink light.

According to Ms. Malloy, “From 1964 - 1966, my father worked for the Department of National Defence for Canada. During that time, he was stationed at Fort Chambly, Germany. After returning from an Italian holiday, my father attended a base exhibition, where he fall in love with the C.Proietto Venice scene. Ever since, it has hung in my parents’ living room, in a small town in Ontario, Canada. The painting’s dimensions are 32” X 24” (81-cm. X 61-cm). I hope this little bit of info helps and I look forward to reading more about the artist.”

Originally, both Jennifer Malloy’s father and I believed that his painting was of St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice. However, using aerial views from Google Maps, I could not reconcile the painted image with photos of St. Mark’s Basilica. As viewed from across the water, the domes in the painting did not match those of St. Mark’s. Unless hidden behind the painting's sailboats, the skyline-dominating Campanile was missing.

Broadening my photo search of Venice, I soon found a match with the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute. For an aerial view of the basilica, click this link. As viewed from the Chiesa del Redentore, across the “trunk” to the southwest, Santa Maria della Salute matches well with this C.Proietto painting. Even the lighthouse, to the right in this painting, is in proper perspective. With such conclusive photographic evidence, I believe that this painting features Santa Maria della Salute.

According to artist’s cousin, Nunzio LoCastro, pastel paintings by Costantino Proietto are rare. In the artist’s early days in Germany, during World War II, brightly colored oil paints were rare. After the war, when new paint formulas became available, the artist’s paintings included lighter and brighter colors.

Together, St. Mark’s Basilica, its plaza and bell tower make up the iconic scene of Venice, Italy. Even so, Claude Monet selected Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute for a series of early-twentieth-century paintings. The Monet series depicts the basilica as viewed from across the Grand Canal, looking south. Since Tino Proietto painted from his own photographs, we can imagine him on the water at sundown, taking pictures of the basilica with his vintage Leica camera. To some, C.Proietto's Venice scene may seem fantastic and surreal. I believe that it is an accurate impression of what the artist saw and photographed one evening in Venice.

After researching and writing this article on the Malloy Family C.Proietto painting, I went back to my photographic archives and made a worthwhile discovery. There, among many other paintings in the LoCastro collection, I discovered another C.Proietto painting of Venice. The final painting on this page is a Costantino Proietto painting of St. Mark’s Basilica, the plaza and Campanile. In contrast to the pastel sunset at Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute, the St. Mark’s painting shows a rising sun.

Undoubtedly, the Malloy Family C.Proietto is another of Tino Proietto’s masterworks. With notable humility, Costantino Proietto’s 1960 era business card represents him as a “Kunstmaler”. Translated from German to English, the word means “production painter”. Over his five decade career, Tino Proietto’s output was indeed prodigious. Despite the large number of C.Proietto paintings in existence, I expect the international art community to recognize him as the grand master of “spaddle work” and a great mid-twentieth-century artist.

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By James McGillis at 03:08 PM | Fine Art | Comments (0) | Link