Old Fisherman 1902

Here is the oil painting Old Fisherman by Tivadar Kosztka Csontvary. It’s a portrait with heavy impasto, built up through layers of scumbled marks in a palette of greys, blacks, and flesh tones. I can imagine Csontvary hunched over the canvas, obsessively building up the craggy textures of the fisherman’s face. I wonder if he started with a thin wash, maybe a stain of diluted color, before laying down those thick, textured strokes? Look at the way he renders the hands clasped in front of him. They’re almost praying hands. Maybe Csontvary felt a kinship with this man. Or perhaps the fisherman reminded him of himself. Csontvary was definitely doing his own thing, he wasn’t afraid to go against the grain, forging his own path in the wilderness. I’m sure other artists must have inspired him, and no doubt his own painterly experiments continue to spark the imaginations of artists today. That’s what art’s about, right? A conversation across time.