April 9, 2008
April 14 - August 31, 2008
Contact:
Gigi Lamm
Public Relations Manager
215-972-2031
glamm@pafa.org
PHILADELPHIA—A permanent collection focus installation, Harnett, Peto and their Accomplices: Trompe l'oeil Paintings from the Collection
will be on view at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in the
Historic Landmark Building’s Gallery 11 from April 14 - August
31, 2008.
Among the treasures of the Academy's historical collection are numerous
examples of the virtuoso realist genre known as "trompe 'loeil," French
for "to fool the eye." These pictures were often referred to as
"deceptions" because the artist's skill at rendering surfaces and
three-dimensional objects was so convincing that it was thought to fool
some viewers into thinking they were seeing the "real" thing rather
than paint on canvas. This quality is evident in the many works that
present meticulously rendered letters, hand-written notes, newspaper
clippings, photographs and other bits of paper pinned to flat wooden
boards. The fidelity with which these items are rendered is matched by
details that suggest that other viewers have lifted their corners and
creased them, tempting audiences to touch the painted illusion.
This installation showcases twelve of the Academy's 19th-century trompe
l'oeil paintings, including four paintings by one of the most prominent
practitioners of this genre, John Frederick Peto (1854-1907). Two of
Peto’s works recently came to the Academy in a gift of fourteen
trompe l’oeil paintings from the collection of Donald and Jean I.
Stralem. Peto and his successful contemporary, William Michael Harnett
(1848-1892) both studied at the Academy where trompe l’oeil
painting had a strong presence at the Annual Exhibitions during the
19th century. Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827) and his son Raphaelle
Peale (1774-1825) in particular, were known for their daring and
innovative forays into the genre.
While this genre is typically associated with the 19th century, and
particularly the late-19th century, the installation includes one work
by a twentieth-century artist: a 1957 painting by John Wilde
(1919-2006) in the trompe l’oeil tradition. Wilde’s
painting reflects a modern interest in psychologically charged tactile
forms of representation which was paved by the reception of surrealism
in America.
Works in the installation include paintings by Ben Austrian
(1870-1921), De Scott Evans (1847-1898), John J. Eyers (active 19th
century), Richard La Barre Goodwin (1840-1910), William Michael Harnett
(1848-1892), John Frederick Peto (1854-1907), Alexander Pope
(1849-1924), Andrew John Henry Way (1826-1888), and John Wilde
(1919-2006).
Elsewhere in the Academy’s galleries, visitors can see earlier
examples of trompe l’oeil by John Neagle (1796-1865) in Gallery
13, a larger painting by Harnett in The Vivian O. and Meyer P. Potamkin
Gallery, and contemporary Brazilian artist Vik Muniz’s (born
1961) trompe l’oeil homage to Charles Willson Peale in the foyer
of the Historic Landmark Building.