Constant Montald (Ghent, 4 December 1862 – Brussels, 5 March 1944) was a Belgian painter, muralist, sculptor, and teacher.
Biography
Early years
In 1874, while receiving an education in decorative painting at the technical school of Ghent during the day, Montald also enrolled in the evening-classes of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent. There he won in 1885 a competition and received a grant from the city which enabled him to live and study briefly in Paris with fellow artist Henri Privat-Livemont at the École des Beaux-Arts. In Paris, he painted his first monumental canvas, The Human Struggle, a 5 by 10m canvas which he later donated to the city of Ghent. There, the work was displayed in the grand hall of the Palace of Justice. Since then it is on display on a wall of the hall of the Court of Appeal.
In 1886, Montald went on to win the Belgian Prix de Rome for his work "Diagoras in triumph carried by his sons, victors of the Olympic Games of Ancient Greece". Montald's victory was extensively celebrated in his home-town of Ghent and he received a commendation and the medal from the "Society for improvement of Industry and Science". (See pictures of the medal in the Dutch Wiki) He then went on a grand tour of Italy and was greatly impressed by the Sistine Chapel and the work of Giotto di Bondone. He traveled extensively until he eventually settled in Florence, where he made preparations for a Grand work he eventually completed in Rome. This grand work, titled "Social Contradictions", was kept in the basement of the Royal Museum of Art and History of Brussels after it was displayed there in 1890 after being sent over from Rome. In his Roman workshop, Montald painted another enormous decorative work titled "The Eolian Harps" (currently being kept in the depot of the Museum of Fine arts of Belgium in Brussels), that was displayed at the Salon of Ghent in 1892.
Marriage
In 1891, Montald returned to Belgium, after a trip to Egypt. On 9 August 1892, he married Gabrielle Canivet, a fellow artist who specialized in decorative compositions for fabrics.
In 1894, he, Jean Delville, Auguste Donnay and Leon Frederic participated in an exhibition in Brussels, organized by the esoteric study-group Kumris.
In 1896, Montald scored high marks in an entrance exam for professor of the decorative arts at the Academy of Fine arts in Brussels, a post he would hold until 1932. His students there include some of the best-known names of Belgian painters: René Magritte, Paul Delvaux, Edgard Tytgat, Paul Cauchie, Joseph Lacasse, Armand Bonnetain, Paul Heymans along with many others.
In the same year, he participated in the Premier Salon d’Art Idéaliste of Jean Delville, where he exhibited alongside Victor Rousseau and Léon Frédéric. He also designed the decoration of the tympanum in the Royal Dutch Theater of Ghent(a building designed by architect Eduard De Vigne). It is a mosaïc made by De Smet.
During this period the art of Montald underwent a dramatic change. The esoteric circles he frequented wanted to 'elevate art above reality in order to express ideas'. After being impressed by the mysterious and overwhelming San-Marco basilica in Venice, Montald was intrigued by the way golden backgrounds influenced the color of the paintings. Under these influences he painted several works in 1907, including "The Boat of the Ideal" and "The Fountain of Inspiration". These works were originally intended for the grant hall of the Brussels museum, but were only put on display there after passing through many different hands. Later, he painted "The Hallowed Tree". When he exhibited these three paintings in 1906 in Brussels, he won a golden medal.
While Montald's first works were strongly influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, gradually he focused on integrating humanity with their floral environment: Trees with winding branches, curtains of flowers and lawns strewn with surreal growths. Quickly, the environment took the spotlight while man was relegated to the background. His later works depicted Elysian dream-worlds with parks and fountains rendered in ornamental drawings. The emphasis was on gold and blue hues, Montald was inspired by the Byzantines, and tried to introduce musicality into the art of painting.
Villa
In 1909, Montald commissioned a villa for himself in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert. Soon, The "Villa Montald" became a meeting place for the intellectual elite he surrounded himself with, including friends like Emile Verhaeren (Who he met in 1989, in the studio of sculptor Charles Van der Stappen) and Stefan Zweig. Montald made several portraits of Emile Verhaeren.