Stock Ref D2298
A pair of original nude drawings, by Marceau Constantin (1918-2017). Charcoal on paper. Signed.
France, circa 1940.
Newly framed in bespoke frames
71.5 cm high by 87.5 cm wide by 4.5 cm depth
Marceau Constantin
Coming from a family of Greek immigrants, son of the village baker, who was also the mayor of St Christol (Vaucluse), Marceau Constantin was born in 1918 in the bedroom above the bakery. He suffered from frail health up until adolescence. Having lost his parents at a young age, it was his brother Kléber and sister Fernande who brought him up and had him educated. His first artistic training came from his brother Kléber who, struck by Marceau's innate ardor for drawing (to which many drawings can attest), took him under his wing, gave him lots of advice, introduced him to color. He presented him to the renowned artists of the region, Eugène Martel and the Ambrogiani brothers. Marceau Constantin innovated a genre in geometrization by following a special technique which draws from both the geometer and the architect. There is a calculated disposition of the many planes, of the different and expressive lighting, giving life to the subjects. At the age of 20, Marceau Constantin settled in Paris and perfected himself in the Fine Arts. Always avid to learn, conscious of the fact that the study of drawing is primordial for approaching painting, Marceau Constantin enrolled at school at 80 Boulevard Montparnasse. The Director welcomed him and showed him around the different drawing classes. Here, there were plaster models, there, the students' drawings. Marceau stopped, impressed by a drawing hanging on the wall. The Director told him that the drawing was the result of ten years of work. There and then, Marceau Constantin made the decision to take the courses, attending them diligently. For ten years, he studied drawing with Auclair and Lesbounit. At the same time, he enrolled in painting classes led by a reputable Master, André Lhote. Marceau learnt “the trade”; in his paintings we can see the qualities of a methodical and masterful order, his design is clear, elaborated, sometimes painstaking. He adds to it that which gives it its personal originality, that acute sense of the harmony of shapes, lines and colours.