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Memorable visit to a home-studio - Nov 1

Friday, 30 October 2009
by Kwynn Johnson

I recently visited the home-studio of senior graphic artist and painter Anthony Boos. He was featured in the Catholic News in 1997 and has since continued to produce many drawings and paintings. It was a memorable visit. I was overwhelmed by the volume of his art practice, which I have decided to divide into three parts: current paintings, Carnival works over the decades, and religious art. This is the first part, with the second part to come in February 2010, and the third during Lent.

Born in 1947 in Pointe-à-Pierre with webbed hands – due to a pregnancy drug used at the time – Thalidomide, Anthony had countless operations on his hands as a child. With little feeling in them and mobility limitations, he has nevertheless become an accomplished artist. “The tips of my fingers are so sensitive I could feel where my wife’s bikini tan lines were on her skin without looking,” he explained.

Anthony, who has been drawing since age 10, obtained a degree from the Licentiate of the Society of Industrial Artists and Designers in Bristol, England, in 1970. After 20 years “in de cold”, he relocated to Trinidad and spent a number of years in the advertising industry. One of his memorable works is the BWIA logo with the two steelpans. He has also designed and created numerous Carnival costumes, including King and Queen costumes, for designers such as Roland St George, Raoul Garib and Brian Mac Farlane.

Interestingly, Anthony is also a certified mortician. He has had training and experience at London’s Madame Tussaud wax museum, and shared with me: “So, when Gene Miles came in I had to fix her up.” While he has never exhibited, he has compiled an impressive portfolio, with countless commissions.

Kathy and Anthony Boos

Quite memorable was a photo of a curtain at a private residence, on which he painted multiple hibiscus flowers and hummingbirds. I continue to celebrate the discipline, patience and reverence that go into making such a one-of-a-kind design and handmade object. Moreover, the hibiscus is quite special to me. Once very common in many T&T gardens, it has become a rarity in our horticulture since the visit of the Mealy Bug.

It is against this backdrop that I am presenting Anthony’s recent works, which focus on portraiture. His rendering of hands and feet is exceptional, something which other artists either always omit or smudge out in drawing the human form. Anthony is working on illustrations for an upcoming fictional publication; this is his second work in the field of storybook illustration.

Some of his recent commissions interest me because of the subject matter – horse-racing, maybe because of its disappearance from the Queen’s Park Savannah. It is not a very common subject matter in the local art scene and his works in acrylic on canvas are quite successful. Before these, the last drawings of horses that I had seen were in Jackie Hinkson’s recent show. Hinkson’s drawings were dated around the early 1980s at the Savannah and he focussed on the vigorous racing movement of the horse’s body. This was rendered via quick pen strokes. Anthony has also focussed on the racehorse but specifically locates his animals in the context of the Santa Rosa Race Track and portrays them as winning their races.  His works are in full colour, amid a manicured garden and a modern scoreboard, and includes Republic Bank signage.

The pieces titled Bruceontheloose and Chief Commander reminded me of a long-standing debate on how the legs of a horse are positioned in motion. This was later settled using photography: “In 1872, there was considerable debate over whether all four of a horse’s hooves left the ground at the same time when galloping. Conventional wisdom at the time either thought this was impossible – that the horse always was anchored by at least one hoof – or a horse took on a ‘rocking horse’ stance, with its fore and hind legs outstretched, which was how popular artists at the time depicted it.

"Bruceontheloose" painting by Anthony Boos

Photographer Eadweard Muybridge invented the technology that allowed photography to capture the sequence of motion (through increased shutter speeds), via a track and a bank of cameras on a farm. The horse ‘tripped’ a series of wires that caused each of the 12 stereoscope cameras, placed 21 inches apart, to take a photograph. The set-up used covered the 20 feet taken by one horse stride. It achieved frames showing individual motion, making clear that no painter had ever gotten the position of a horse’s legs correctly. Their paintings were all incorrect.” (History of Photography)

While Anthony has captured the way in which the light reflects off the coat of the horse, they seem to have little muscular tension, weight and speed for such a powerful animal. They appear almost featherweight, and maybe that was the intention, as a sort of metaphor for speed. The third piece, Storm Street, is an image that has become iconic to horse-racing representation. We see the owner and his wife escorting the winning horse off the track, while the jockey has been cut out of the picture. Interesting.

There was another piece in the studio that caught my attention. It was of the artist’s son Tristan, cuddling a sleepy cat. This was another example of his affinity for animal portraiture along with his interest in human faces.

Lastly, there was a seascape of the Chacachacare Leprosarium/Sanatorium erected in 1887. It is quite successful as a historical record and because the water in the painting looks quite realistic. Good manipulation of colour. This scene is quite special to me as it was where I learned how to swim as a child. My fondest childhood memories are of “down de islands”. Well done.

I wish Anthony continued success, and many thanks to his delightful wife Kathy for opening their home to me and for that much needed cup of tea upon my arrival.