Introducing
Stanislas Kostka
Stanislas Kostka was trained in the thorough and delicate preparations of the old European masters, while training to be conservator of paintings.
Historical influences Kostka has touched upon, absorbed and moved on from in an aesthetic pursuit, which has led him toward a new creative elaboration of this old tradition for contemporary audiences. In this, the artist has had no rival in the late-20th century, and he remains the leading floral painter as we open the 21st century.
The linear harmonies of his floral paintings must be ascribed to a relationship between the linear restraint of the internal architecture (geometric underpinning) of the arrangement of blooms, With a flamboyant baroque curvature and bright coloration of the flowers, modelled for dramatic emphasis in an emphatic chiaroscuro light.
The whole is a quixotic tour-de-force of line, color and mood that aligns him favorably with the old masters for whom he has reverence. However, Kostka brings to these set pieces the poetic dimension of deliquescent light, which imbues every particle of the flower, pistil to stem. Often the flowers are not a specific species but objects of the artist’s imagination and in this it is a unique development of the tradition.
Bringing together various flowers that are not necessarily of the same month or location (adding to the textural variety of the bouquet) is a Dutch, 17th century idea.
However Kostka includes in this fancy “flowers of the imagination” – fictions that extend the color range and shape of his compositions.
“Stanislas Kostka is an artist of unique talent, He is without doubt one of the finest artists of his genre and his expert knowledge of early paint media and color pigments is brought to fruition in his work.”
LUCY B. CAMPBELL
Gallery Owner,
Lucy B. Campbell, Ltd. London, England
„I do not know of any other living painter of his technical virtuosity, brilliant color sense and mastery of the elements of still-life composition.
To all these works, he brings his Own personal poetry and flair We are happy owners of seven paintings by this extraordinary artist.”
MICHAEL AND ALICE GOLDETT
Previous Head Advisor to the Ministry of France
Paris and New York
Personal
Artist's Life
