Fiorenzo Tomea (1910 - 1960) Lot n° 51

Fiorenzo Tomea (1910 - 1960) Don Martino, 1954 Oil on cardboard 39 x 29.4 cm Signature: Signature on verso Date: Date on verso Other inscriptions: Title on verso Distinguishing elements: two Biennial participation labels, on verso Provenance: Estate of Alfred Peyton Jenkins (1900-1995); Richmond, until 1996; Sotheby's New York, 10.10.1996, lot 146; Christie's, Milan, 18.5.1998, lot 247 Exhibitions: XXVIII International Biennial Art Exhibition, Venice, 1956 (work 55). Conservation status. Support: 90%. Conservation status. Surface: 90%. Between 1948 and 1956, out of 135 Venetian painters attending the Biennales, the artists who participated in all five editions were only nine: Edmondo Bacci, Renato Birolli, Virgilio Guidi, Gino Morandis, Bruno Saetti, Giuseppe Santomaso, Fiorenzo Tomea and Emilio Vedova. Tomea exhibited a total of 39 works, including 23 in the 1956 Biennale, where a solo exhibition was dedicated to him (Elena Rampazzo, "I pittori veneti alle 'Biennali di Pallucchini' (1948-1956). Participations and Press Reception," in Stefania Portinari and Nico Stringa, eds, "Histories of Contemporary Art. Atlas of the Biennales," 4 | 1, Venice, 2019, p. 103). Among them is the portrait of "Don Martino" in the auction, which thus ranks among the artist's first selection, also appreciated by the press that devoted ample space to the exhibition (Rampazzo 2019, p. 112). The portrait, in its compositional simplicity, participates in post-war realism but along cultured lines that go back to Gauguin and post-impressionism.