Balle de Paris

Cheeta Jones wrote: My mom picked this painting up from a garage sale many years ago for two dollars. The garage sale was actually in Canada in southern Ontario. Yes , I have like the painting for a long time. I only began ton research Tony's work recently and seeing his other work has made me appreciate this painting even more. I like what you have done to create a collection of his paintings and stories...
Tumbleweed: This painting has the words Balle de Paris, probably he meant Belle de Paris seen the pretty ladies ready for a bal. It stems or refers to his Paris period in the sixties when he lived ina "chambre de bonne" after staying in Hôtel Belgique for a while. He roamed the streets, sold his work in the 'grand cafe's', knew the ladies from 'Les Halles' and the galleries in Rue St André des Arts:

All is changed
nothing stays the same
but the street
on which the changing
walk
until words
of past
hurt
for lack of a tomorrow

The fading star
of laughter lost
hears but the
murmur of memory
on rue St André des Arts
meeting Madame
Françoise Besnard

Birds

These birds, at first glance they seem to be pigeons; they are a lithograph. When in Paris Tony did several lithographs. Once again: no date or signature on the photograph but seen it is in the series of work from the early seventies in Los Angeles. I know Robert K. owns some of those. Do you see the lady with the red hat?

Galerie Françoise Besnard

This exhibition was held in 1966 after spending time in Casares and bringing down the work he had created there. We met Madame Besnard one day in Paris while Tony was showing me the old galleries where he showed. Listening to the two of them speak it was clear that Tony's story that they sold out the show was true. She said: We did well then. I still have two of your paintings in my living room. All the stories told me and having been able to check out a few of them, makes me think that all he told was a always a nice story, yet always based on some truth.

Casares Spain

Doug, our collecting fiend, had the foresights years ago to take a lot of pictures. He send 13 cd-roms on which he had transfered the negatives of those times. You'll get a lot of young Tony's work. I start out with a fine pen and ink drawing from 1966. The oldest drawing I have found up to now. He stayed for six months in Casares in Andalucia, Spain painting drawing and putting a show together in the rue Saint Honoré des Arts for the gallery of Madame Besnard. Casares is like on the drawing: the church on top with the cemetery around it and the field fertilized by the rains under the overhanging cliff... He sold out the show: true! I heard Tony and Madame Besnard speak about in when they met again in Paris early 1990's. She had two paintings of Tony in her living room... He revisited Casares often in his paintings. Even the big painting in the European Parliament 'The tearful eye of god' is inspired by his stay in Spain that long ago.

Painting in the street

Tony, while being in the air force, was stationed in Southern Germany. On one of his leaves he went to Paris. This was the early fifties and of course he always carried his paints and brushes. He ended up setting up shop on the banks of Seine. He liked to paint with an audience which didn't intimidate him at all. He either ignored them or danced in front of the canvas, doing a little show to entertain them. I don't know what, nor how he painted that day. Along comes a well dressed, rotund gentleman, who watches him for quite a while and a group of onlookers grows. Hear them whisper in French, hear a solemn silence and Tony probably joking in English, or commenting. When the gentleman with cane, goes his way, he turns to Tony and says: If you keep painting you could become a master. The group applauds and then some one asks: 'Do you know whom that was, that was Monsieur Henri Matisse!' He told me the stories several times, wondering why it mattered to him...
I think if you look at Matisse's work that you can see the way the both handled color and were free in the representation of their subject, without being abstract. This Crucifiction is in Harry Kegels' office, a friend and collector of Tony's work. The drawing was shown at Lineart 1998 in Ghent.