Veteran sculptor of over 60 years experience. Nigel Konstam is the owner and founder of the Verrocchio Art Centre and lives and works here all the year round. Now in his 80's but still a wonderful, humorous and patient teacher. He has inspired total novices to discover the joy of carving and modelling. He has had some incredibly talented students over the years that have discovered and developed their skills from beginners to highly accomplished sculptors here in Casole. Much in demand for commissioned work, you will thoroughly enjoy sculpting alongside Nigel on the sculpture terrace or in his refreshingly cool sculpture studio.
Nigel's courses run concurrently with the other art courses and can be taken for one or two weeks. See Programme/Courses for all the dates and prices of rooms/transfers and meals etc which vary according to length of stay and room choice etc. As Nigel lives here all the year round students are welcome to come for tuition at any time. However it is fun to come while other courses are on to enjoy the stimulation of the company of painting students and the convenience of airport transfers and Loredana's wonderful cooking - only available during the season May - Sept. Nigel charges €45 per day for individual tuition and for accommodation, meals and room prices contact Hannah on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Nigel studied sculpture, drawing and painting at Camberwell School of Art (1956-8) and has worked as a sculptor and teacher ever since. His book Sculpture: The Art and the Practice (Collins '84) was praised by the critics for its 'lively, knowledgeable and stimulating discussion on the nature of art and the way an artist's mind works ...marvellous chapters which deal in depth with imagination and creativity, structure and composition.' 'A most remarkable handbook.' (now available in paperback ISBN 0 9523568 0.5)
His art historical research, particularly into painters' use of mirrors is well known. These studies have led him to a new way of understanding visual imagination and therefore new methods of extending its range and power. Take this link to a site dedicated to Nigel Konstam's art historical research on Rembrandt Van Rijn. Nigel has a blog where all matters related to his philosophy of art and art history are discussed with new articles being added all the time.
Nigel Konstam's foundry discoveries were published in The Oxford Journal of Archaeology in May 2002. A second Article was published in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology in the November 2004 issue on 'Life Casting'.
Nigel has had a distinguished career which is fully documented in Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Konstam. The following is an extract from the text:
Konstam became an active sculptor and bronze-caster, in parallel forging a career to explore the history of art, specialising in tracing the development of Man's ability to understand what he sees. He lectured on art historical subjects at the major art colleges in Kingdom of Great Britain also at Harvard in the US and PINC[2] in the Netherlands.
Konstam was commissioned to make portraits of musicians including Otto Klemperer in 1982,[3] Hans Hotter, Manoug Parikian and John Ireland (composer). Showing at The Cadogan Contemporary Gallery[4] in London his carvings in alabaster are ordinarily on show or can been seen on request. He has drawings in the collection of The British Museum.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11] He chaired the Contemporary Portrait Society in London between 1975 and 1980.[12] In 2001 he exhibited in Pisa, in Florence in 2002 and Todi in 2011. In Spain he sculpted Portrait busts of Juan Carlos I of Spain and Queen Sofía of Spain.[13][14]
In Italy he set up and ran The Verrocchio Arts Centre[15] in Casole d'Elsa. Within the Centre is the Museo Konstam[16] a number of Konstam’s sculptures and drawings are displayed. Many of his larger works can be seen near La chiesa di San Niccolò and in the village of Casole d'Elsa. Also in the Museo Konstam resides The Research Centre for the True History of Art.[17][18]
The main exhibits in the museum are demonstrations of artists' use of mirrors (for example Rembrandt, Velasquez, Vermeer and Brunelleschi). Also featured is the Roman tradition in European Art, Greek Life-casting and Bronze Casting technique, and includes medieval Sienes sculpture and drawing artefacts. Konstam was an artist whose work was displayed in mixed exhibitions, and some solo ones in and around London though, notably, as far back as 1980, presented a major respective in Madrid with over 100 pieces on show followed by shows in Barcelona and Salamanca.[19][20] He has revealed evidence that some aspects of the history of art are mistaken and challenged orthodoxy on important turning points in art history; namely the classical phase in Greece, the start of the Renaissance and around 1630 which he claims is the start of the modern era.[21]
Latest edition of Nigel's book now available. See REVIEW.
Nigel Konstam's new web site: www.nigelkonstam.com
To emailThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Nancy GT, CA, USA
My husband came to the centre just to relax while I took a painting class. He had no intention of doing anything except reading and relaxing. However Nigel offered to show him how to carve and he made a carving and to this day he is so proud of it. He was amazed at what he was able to do.