Domenico Cocolicchio; the Franz Kafka of the art world
Hyfler/Rosner
April 18, 2007 Wednesday
DOMENICO COCOLICCHIO, ARTIST: 1924-2007;
Montreal artist toiled in obscurity to produce works as a
'sly communication with a public for whom he expressed no
need'
BYLINE: M.J. STONE, Special to The Globe and Mail
In his tiny studio, fragrant with turpentine and splattered
with paint droppings, he created unexpected masterpieces.
The Franz Kafka of the art world, Domenico (Tony)
Cocolicchio was a solitary man who sought sanctuary in art
and scorned fame and fortune. An artist's artist, he painted
because it was his passion and feared that any attempt to
profit from his creativity would undermine his relationship
with his muse.
A self-described colorist, his oils traverse the
impressionist and post-impressionist periods. Mr.
Cocolicchio's exquisite portraits, nudes, landscapes and
flowers are as bold as they are vibrant. Celebrations of
light and colour, his paintings combine the joy of Matisse
with the technical sophistication of Cezanne.
His son Len described his father's paintings as the mirrors
of many moods. "His art was his autobiography. It was his
story, his needs, his hurt, his moods conveyed in a depth
and range that he could not reach with words. They are a
solitary man's sly communication with a public for whom he
expressed no need."
The son of immigrant Italian parents, Mr. Cocolicchio grew
up in Montreal's east end during the Depression. A
predominantly immigrant neighbourhood, it was then a
spawning ground for the mafia. Fearing the influence of the
Black Hand crime syndication, his father moved the family
into a subdivision in Montreal North to ensure that his
children would grow up in safety.
As a boy, young Domenico's talent for drawing was evident
early on but his family lacked the money to pay for art
school. But while poverty may have delayed his
opportunities, he did not allow it to stunt his creativity.
Just getting to school each day required imagination. It was
an hour-long walk unless he could scrape together enough
change to take the street car. Seldom having the fare, he
used sleight of hand to make a single tram ticket last
indefinitely. He attached the ticket to an elastic band that
was fastened around his wrist so that it would disappear up
his sleeve instead of going into the fare box.
Just 15 when the Second World War erupted, he had to wait
until 1941 before he could enlist. When he did, he was the
first Italian-Canadian from Montreal to join the Royal
Canadian Navy and it was while serving on frigates and
corvettes, guarding supply ships crossing the Atlantic, that
his shipmates baptized him Tony. He saw many ships go down
during the Battle of the Atlantic and narrowly escaped
death. While alone on deck late one night, he was surprised
by a rogue wave that struck the ship. Instinctively he
reached out and grabbed a railing just before being swept
away into the cold, black ocean.
A brawler and a dancer, he attracted admiring glances even
though he often sported a black eye on shore leave. He was
spotted at a dance hall by a young woman who noticed that he
did a masterful job of the jitterbug with one of her
friends. She became curious about the tall, dark and
handsome sailor and "we met a couple of days later," Lillian
Cocolicchio said. "He later told me that as soon as he saw
me, he knew that he would marry me."
Forever the romantic type, Mr. Cocolicchio described their
60 years together as "a long time in a short while."
After the war, the newlyweds settled in Montreal and Mr.
Cocolicchio began studying with Hungarian-born artist Herman
Heimlich at the Royal Canadian Academy of Artists. To pay
the rent, he worked as a purchaser for a series of
steel-fabrication companies.
While Mr. Cocolicchio painted mostly in obscurity, his
talents did not remain a secret forever. In the 1980s, he
and fellow painter Tibor K. Thomas travelled to Mexico
together, along with their wives. They spent several weeks
at an artists' colony in Acapulco, where the owner of a
small gallery invited the two painters to exhibit their
work. The show triggered an interest in Mr. Cocolicchio's
paintings and, as a result, his work soon found homes in
Europe, Costa Rica and the Morilla state museum in Mexico.
It also cultivated a growing number of collectors who began
sniffing around his studio in the hopes of scoring a
Cocolicchio oil.
His son Fred said his father was especially suspicious of
the collectors.
"He was reluctant to sell to people who wanted to purchase
his work as an investment and often charged them top dollar
for a painting. But if he thought that someone was sincerely
moved by one of his works, he would practically give it away
for a song."
Domenico Cocolicchio
was born Feb. 9, 1924, in
Montreal. While recovering
from a heart-attack, he spent
110 days in hospital after
contacting E. coli, C. difficile
and Norwalk virus. He died Jan. 28, 2007, in Montreal. He
was 82. He is survived by his wife
Lillian and children Fred,
Len, Gail and Marlene.