GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Painted in Germany, this still life displays the meticulously detailed realism that marked William Michael Harnett’s brief career. Harnett assembled a variety of objects—bread, turnips, paper, matches, glass—whose diverse surfaces allowed him to display his great facility with rendering different textures in oil paint. Born in County Cork, Harnett was raised in Philadelphia and studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the National Academy of Design in New York. He had begun making highly detailed still lifes even before he moved to Europe in 1880 for six years’ residency and study in Munich and Paris. In the late nineteenth century, trompe l’oeil (fool the eye) still lifes such as this were enormously popular with collectors and the public, although they received little critical attention at the time.
Excerpt from
Bonnie Pitman, ed., Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 197.
NOTES
Created in 1882
Object File reviewed
The earliest American still-life painting appears in 18th century portraits, such as that in paintings by Copley and Charles Willson Peale. Peale also painted some pure still-life works, as did his brother James Peale. The center of American still-life painting in the 19th century was Philadelphia. The first generation of artists doing still-lifes in a neoclassical style is represented by the Peales, especially the work of Raphaelle Peale who also did trompe l'oeil or fool-the-eye paintings. The next generation painted in a Victorian style and a more painterly manner. Artists of this type include Severin Rosen and John F. Francis. The third generation is represented by the work of William Harnett, whose work is tightly painted and exhibits a high degree of realism. Harnett's work grows out of both the Peale tradition and the work of the 17th century Dutch still-life artists. Under Harnett, still-life reaches its peak in the 19th century, with his paintings of familiar or old objects, often shown with some trompe l'oeil effects created by reducing the picture plane to as shallow a space as possible. Harnett's second period is considered to extend from 1880 to 1886, when he worked mainly in Munich. In this period, he showed a more painterly technique, using highlights over much of the surface of the painting. Often his compositions are of a jug or beer stein, pipe, book and folded newspaper. The objects are arranged pyramidally on a table-top. From this period date his four versions of After the Hunt (his most famous work) and the DMA's Munich Still Life (a theme Harnett often treated). The Munich Still Life (1882) exhibits the pyramidal structure, though in it the artist
has returned to his older, unpainter1y style, with hard edges and a sharpness and clarity of depiction. In the background one can see parts of posters on the wall, as well as a sketchy doodle. The objects depicted are largely familiar ones, and the old jug, representative of permanence, is contrasted with the folded newspaper, a symbol of impermanence. (See also Peto's Fish House Door.)
Excerpt from Anne Bromberg, "Description of Selected Paintings in the Collection," DMA Education files, 1987.
Cultures
Geography
Place of origin: Munich (Germany): TGN: 7004333
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
From 1953: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas Art Association Purchase [1]
[1] The Dallas Art Association is the predecessor to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. The name was abandoned in 1970. Works from this collection were transferred to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.
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- The top of the newspaper on the table says "Nachrihten," which is a misspelling of the German word "Nachrichten," meaning news.
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General Description
Painted in Germany, this still life displays the meticulously detailed realism that marked William Michael Harnett’s brief career. Harnett assembled a variety of objects—bread, turnips, paper, matches, glass—whose diverse surfaces allowed him to display his great facility with rendering different textures in oil paint. Born in County Cork, Harnett was raised in Philadelphia and studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the National Academy of Design in New York. He had begun making highly detailed still lifes even before he moved to Europe in 1880 for six years’ residency and study in Munich and Paris. In the late nineteenth century, trompe l’oeil (fool the eye) still lifes such as this were enormously popular with collectors and the public, although they received little critical attention at the time.
Excerpt from
Bonnie Pitman, ed., Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 197.
Fun Facts
- The top of the newspaper on the table says "Nachrihten," which is a misspelling of the German word "Nachrichten," meaning news.
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
Created in 1882
Object File reviewed
The earliest American still-life painting appears in 18th century portraits, such as that in paintings by Copley and Charles Willson Peale. Peale also painted some pure still-life works, as did his brother James Peale. The center of American still-life painting in the 19th century was Philadelphia. The first generation of artists doing still-lifes in a neoclassical style is represented by the Peales, especially the work of Raphaelle Peale who also did trompe l'oeil or fool-the-eye paintings. The next generation painted in a Victorian style and a more painterly manner. Artists of this type include Severin Rosen and John F. Francis. The third generation is represented by the work of William Harnett, whose work is tightly painted and exhibits a high degree of realism. Harnett's work grows out of both the Peale tradition and the work of the 17th century Dutch still-life artists. Under Harnett, still-life reaches its peak in the 19th century, with his paintings of familiar or old objects, often shown with some trompe l'oeil effects created by reducing the picture plane to as shallow a space as possible. Harnett's second period is considered to extend from 1880 to 1886, when he worked mainly in Munich. In this period, he showed a more painterly technique, using highlights over much of the surface of the painting. Often his compositions are of a jug or beer stein, pipe, book and folded newspaper. The objects are arranged pyramidally on a table-top. From this period date his four versions of After the Hunt (his most famous work) and the DMA's Munich Still Life (a theme Harnett often treated). The Munich Still Life (1882) exhibits the pyramidal structure, though in it the artist
has returned to his older, unpainter1y style, with hard edges and a sharpness and clarity of depiction. In the background one can see parts of posters on the wall, as well as a sketchy doodle. The objects depicted are largely familiar ones, and the old jug, representative of permanence, is contrasted with the folded newspaper, a symbol of impermanence. (See also Peto's Fish House Door.)
Excerpt from Anne Bromberg, "Description of Selected Paintings in the Collection," DMA Education files, 1987.
Cultures
Geography
Place of origin: Munich (Germany): TGN: 7004333
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
From 1953: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas Art Association Purchase [1]
[1] The Dallas Art Association is the predecessor to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. The name was abandoned in 1970. Works from this collection were transferred to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.
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