Toni

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I worked with the figure for twenty years before asking my favorite model, TONI TONDALAYO, to pose for me privately every Saturday in the early 1980’s.  She adopted her lilting stage name when she began performing in North Beach nightspots in the 1940s where would dance on a little stage to the sounds of a jazz ensemble.  She could adopt any guise.  As seen in these drawings, she could be young, middle-aged or timeless, she could evoke a classical goddess, an African queen, a contemporary urbanite, a peasant maid. She could be frank and warm, grave or light-hearted, high-spirited or remote and deeply inward.  Her deep humanity shines forth in every gesture. These drawings were made on Strathmore paper with tooth that picks up bits of charcoal to give depth to the line. Stanisich feels that the clarity of her image opens one’s eyes to the multiple characters she embodies. She uttered few words but once said quietly, “Your time is coming, Bill.” Her encouragement rang in his ears through the telephones she conjured so often.