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• Auction House:
  Webb's
• Sale Name:
  Important Paintings and Contemporary Art
• Sale Date:
  06 Dec 2011 ~ 6.30pm (NZ Time)
• Lot #:
  28
• Lot Description:
  Tony Fomison
  Tony Fomison, Carcinoma of the Tongue, 1969, oil on jute Fear! Fear of a painful, lingering death. Fear of the unknown. That is an essential
  oil on stretched jute canvas on board
  917mm x 710mm
  signed Fomison and dated March 1964 in brushpoint lower right and inscribed "Carcinoma of the Tongue Ulcerative Type" Fig.51 'Surgery for Nurses' by Bailey and Love, London 1942 in brushpoint upper left; inscribed Fomison exh. No. 34 crate no. 2 verso, on
• Provenance:
  Formerly in the collection of Martin Fisher, Dunedin; Robert May, Dunedin; currently held in a private collection, Dunedin.
• Exhibited:
  Canterbury Society of Arts, Christchurch, 1970; Christchurch 71, New Vision Gallery, Auckland, 1971; Dawson’s Exhibition Gallery, Dunedin, 1972; Still Life: The Art of Anatomy, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, 10 July – 12 September 2010.
• References:
  Trussell, Denys. A provincial talks of religious compassion, City News, Auckland, 17 August 1976; Reprinted in Pilgrims vol. no.1, Christchurch, February 1977; Peter Webb Galleries (Webb’s), auction catalogue, December 1987. REFERENCE: Christchurch 71, New Vision Gallery, Auckland 1971, cat no.5, price $40; Keith, Hamish, review of New Vision Gallery, Auckland, exhibition 1971, Auckland Star, 20 March 1971; Barr, Jim and Mary, interview, 1978.
• Notes:
  Tony Fomison, Carcinoma of the Tongue, 1969, oil on jute Fear! Fear of a painful, lingering death. Fear of the unknown. That is an essential ingredient of Tony Fomison's graphic image Carcinoma of the Tongue, painted in Christchurch in 1969. Conceived in stark black and white with powerful chiaroscuro, the work shows us a head - and what a head - close up and contagious. Put out your tongue, the nurse has said. And what a tongue! All else pales by comparison. The eyes of the afflicted victim are frightened by it and its ulcerous, cancerous growth. Fomison's source, acknowledged in a lengthy inscription, was a medical diagram in a handbook for nurses. But his is no impersonal diagram. On the contrary, we feel the full psychological impact of the diagnosis 'carcinoma of the tongue' on the unfortunate patient. How do we react to this finding? How does the victim respond to this traumatic, life-threatening analysis? What is the prognosis? What are his chances? The head emerging from total darkness, the blackness of a void, rivets our attention. See those eyes staring out from the top corner, one cut off, the whole face cropped by the frame and distorted. Each orifice of sense - mouth, nose and eye - is wide open and receptive to the darkness and finality of death. This is an abject image of human mortality. All we have, it says, is our life and health; take it away and we are nothing. Of New Zealand artists, only Fomison could have selected this subject to paint. Colin McCahon, an important mentor, had his dark moments but few as bleak as this. Fomison inhabited what Ian Wedde has described as 'dark spaces' when creating works such as these, probing the innermost recesses of the subconscious seeking out the hidden, the shameful and the forbidden - that which could not be seen inside the conventions of respectable art. He explored magazines and medical books seeking out images of the mentally ill, the disfigured and those afflicted by diseases. This is but one of a series of unforgettable images made between 1969 and 1971. It was first exhibited in Auckland at New Vision Gallery in March 1971 in a group show called Christchurch 71 cat. no.5, price $40. The show marked the beginning of Fomison's rise to national prominence as a painter and foreshadowed his move to Auckland soon afterwards. Tony Fomison had attended life classes at the Canterbury School of Art while he was a student there between 1958 and 1960. It was then that he first made facial studies, life sized, in black and white on rough sheets of paper. These were drawings in charcoal but have affinities with paintings like Carcinoma of the Tongue in the way the forms emerge from a dark ground and are cut off from any identifiable background. In 1963, he was awarded a travel grant to Europe and it was there he saw at firsthand the dark paintings of Caravaggio and his followers in Italy, Spain and France. He studied these closely, bought postcards of them and made a number of careful copies. Back in Christchurch in 1967, he taught himself to paint slowly and carefully, simplifying and intensifying the imagery by the controlled use of chiaroscuro. His brushwork is smooth but the painting is enlivened by the texture of the rough canvas which shows through the paint. In this work, Fomison has highlighted a scourge of modern society - cancer - the often incurable epidemic of our times. We can name, categorise and record diseases such as carcinoma of the tongue but how do we deal with the unpalatable diagnosis when there is no cure? MICHAEL DUNN
• Estimate:
  NZ$120,000 - 160,000
• Realised Price:
  *****
  

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• Category:
  Art

This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.