EXTENSIVE FACTS TAKE TIME TO LOAD
J. Z. Jacobson | Art of Today Chicago 1933 | Published by L M Stern, Chicago, 1932
CONSTANTINE POUGIALIS was born in Cornith, Greece, in 1894, and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and in France, Italy and Greece. His outstanding teachers were George Bellows, Wellington J. Reynolds and Leopold Seyffert. He has painted in France and Italy and in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington and Detroit. His work has been exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Albright Gallery in Buffalo, the Brooklyn Muse um and in Washington, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. He has had one-man shows at the Art Institute of Chicago and at Increase Robinson's studio Gallery. The Marshall Fuller Holmes Prize and the William Randolph Hearst Prize have been awarded him at the Art Institute of Chicago. His work has been written about in the Art News, Art Digest, the American Magazine of Art and in various newspapers, by C. J. Bulliet, Eleanor Jewett, Tom Vickerman, Irwin .St. John Tucker, Robert D. Andrews, Daniel Catton Rich, Sterling North and Marguerite B. Williams.
If one may speak of form for its own sake, then that is what I am interested in achieving in my work. But, of course, form is in a sense only the external or outer garment in art. And yet it is, as I see it, the only means by which to transport the inner essence of the feeling which the artist experiences to the beholder. To put it briefly, when I say that I am interested in form for its own sake I mean that the subject matter which I choose is used only, or mainly anyway, as a means to evolve forms which carry thought and emotion. Color for its own sake, in the instinctive sense, I do not use in my work-not deliberately, anyway. I think of color, always, in its relationship to the composition as a whole. My work is, I hope, a truly personal expression. As to whether there is anything national or racial in it, I feel it is not up to me to say. I know, only, that I do not consciously strive to put anything national or racial into it, for I believe art to be universal, a world-wide and everlasting means of communication. More than any other artist I admire El Greco and Cezanne. I study El Greco all the time and I have learned much from him. I have great respect and admiration for Cezanne because he opened new roads in art, roads which that in me which is creative finds it natural to travel over. I suppose it may be said then that these two great masters have influenced me. Criticism does not influence me; I paint the way I feel. I do not think of art as a contribution to society. I do not think of it as a contribution to anything or anyone. I paint because I love to paint and I do not concern myself with what my work may mean to others. Constantine Pougialis.