35 years on from the death of a revered and popular New Zealand painter, a biography has been published. Tony Fomison: Life of the Artist, written by Mark Forman has been launched this week by Auckland University Press.
Yet something significant is missing: his much celebrated paintings. Consent for the reproductions has been withheld by the Fomison estate, which is represented by the artist's three sisters. In a written statement to RNZ this week they express their disappointment in "the manner in which this publication has proceeded, and believe his legacy deserves better." They are concerned from seeing early material about possible factual inaccuracies.
This is not the first biographical work on a New Zealand painter to be published without paintings. Sir Vincent O'Sullivan's on Ralph Hotere in 2020 The Dark is Light Enough didn't meet the Hotere Foundation Trust approval and did not feature reproductions, nor did Martin Edmond's book The Resurrection of Philip Clairmont in 1999. Nor is it uncommon worldwide for biographies to not meet a family's approval. But in introducing a remarkable artist to younger generations the absence of the paintings is undoubtedly regrettable.
A biography of Tony Fomison (1939-1990) was never going to be easy. And material drawn from Interviews with more than 150 people, including family and close friends, bear this out.
Much heralded for his exploration of the human condition, in Fomison's painting the human figure is foremost, emerging as if from the bones of a dark and brooding land. The work spoke universally but also to a New Zealand's heritage, unusually engaged for its time for a Pākehā artist with European Renaissance, Māori and Pacific culture. Among the interesting biographical turns in the books are Fomison's important studies of Māori rock drawings that began aged 20, and receiving the traditional Samoan tattoo the pe'a aged 40.
RNZ Culture 101's Mark Amery spoke to author Mark Forman.
