A reader sent us a pic of a Fomison painting that’s
in an exhibition at the Gow Langsford Gallery that opened yesterday. Fomison
has titled his painting The Risen Christ
Appearing to Three Senators by Tintoretto and it is one of a series of
‘copy’ paintings inspired by his travels in Europe in the late sixties. But
hang on a minute, as our reader says, where’s the third Senator? It seems the
third man was a victim of composition, a Fomison whim or maybe even canvas
size. The original painting by Tintoretto hangs in the Venetian Academy where
Fomison would no doubt have either purchased the postcard or recorded it in one of the notebooks he
always had to hand. The Fomison version was probably painted later during a stint he had in an English hospital before returning to New
Zealand. Not that the dumped politico is big loss. The real drama of the
original is the Christ figure making his spectacular cloud-parting arrival. Fomison picked up on the calm indifference of Tintoretto’s senators to this
amazing event and pushed it some. The two of them seem more bemused by us their audience than the sudden appearance of
Christ.
Images: Top, Tony Fomison’s The Risen Christ Appearing to Three Senators by Tintoretto and
bottom, Tintoretto’s The Risen Christ
Appearing to Three Senators. (Thanks L)
