Page 47 - Studio International - July 1966

Constant Permeke

London commentary by J. P. Hodin
Years ago I frequently spent my summers at Lo, not far Sometimes he laughed noisily, like Rabelais' Gargantua;
from Veurne in West Flanders and near Alveringhem at other times he was moody, easily upset, often deeply
where Cyril Verschaeve, one of those responsible for the moved. He had the rich nature of Rubens, but unlike
revival of the Flemish literary language, once lived. Rubens belonged to the people. He was their painter and
From Alveringhem, facing Lo, a narrow canal led to draughtsman and, during his last years, their sculptor.
Poperinge, where Constant Permeke's parents came I am thinking here not of the people of industrial cities,
from. In those days this greatest of Flemish painters but the people of an old-fashioned agricultural com-
since James Ensor used to spend weeks on a boat anchored munity, with its established customs, beliefs, supersti-
near the Lo bridge, in that flat land where windmills tions, bright costumes, poverty mixed with well-being —
and church towers are the only landmarks and the the almost-Biblical people who face the changing seasons,
country paths planted on both sides with poplars or ash till the ground, fish the sea, and live vigorous lives. All
draw a chessboard pattern. this found its way into Permeke's art. 'In art as in life all
Constant Permeke was both Thyl Uilenspiegel, the spirit that is abundant gave him joy.' There was something of
of Flanders (Van you bury Uilenspiegel?' asked de van Gogh's spirit in him, a similar penetrating and ele-
Coster. 'No. Flanders can sleep but not die.') and Lamme mental seriousness and tenacious sorrow, so that his
Goedzak, the stoutly-woven sack filled with good things. work was a direct expression of human passion and
His head was heavy, like a ripe fruit, he had a ruddy meditation. And because he went back to primary sensa-
La basse-cour c.1932 complexion, and his prominent lower lip gave him a tions he represented the type, not the individual. His
Oil
23 1/2 x 29 1/2 in. facial expression halfway between a pout and a smile. men— a sower, a fisherman—are not particular men but