Joseph Fuchs’ involvement in Venice, Italy came slowly but progressed inexorably into a passion. For over two decades he has painted Venice in all her moods. More often than not, Fuchs makes some narrative comment in the Venetian environs through the use of Pulchinella, a figure in the Commedia dell’Arte. Puchinella has become Fuchs’ “Every Man”: a lover one moment, a gondolier or trickster the next. Throughout his 33 years of teaching English, he continued to paint and to show his work. His decision to shift to painting Venice and Pulchinella came in 1979, when he saw the Pulchinella figure for the first time in an exhibition of Giandomenico Tiepolo entitled I Divertimenti at Stanford, California. His first of many visits to Venice came in 1982, on a six month sabbatical leave in Italy. In 1997, he painted in Venice, Italy, for six months on another sabbatical leave. At this time, he painted in the mornings and in the evenings; and in the afternoons her wandered throughout La Serenissima.
Fuchs’ ability to draw and his varied palette enable him to render the Venetian world in detail. His detail demands patience as does his application of glazes to acquire certain effects: glow of sunsets, foggy atmospheres, certain lights on buildings and surfaces of the ever-changing Venetian water.
Now in retirement from teaching, he uses all his time and energies painting his beloved Venice and Pulchinella.
- Jane Fuchs

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