Artist:
William Michael Harnett
(American, 1848 - 1892)
A Man's Table Reversed
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: 1877
Dimensions:
20 3/4 × 18 3/4 in. (52.7 × 47.6 cm)
Accession number: 80.3.14
Label Copy:
In the early 1870s, William Michael Harnett began to create highly detailed still-life paintings rendering ordinary objects with tangible realism, which he accomplished with astonishing skill. Harnett showcases his cleverness with this painting, A Man’s Table Reversed, which is the mirror image of another of his paintings from the same year titled A Man’s Table. As with many of Harnett’s works, the painting places the viewer in a decidedly masculine space, in this case through an informal assembly of a pipe with burning embers, burnt-out matches, and a newspaper.
In the early 1870s, William Michael Harnett began to create highly detailed still-life paintings rendering ordinary objects with tangible realism, which he accomplished with astonishing skill. Harnett showcases his cleverness with this painting, A Man’s Table Reversed, which is the mirror image of another of his paintings from the same year titled A Man’s Table. As with many of Harnett’s works, the painting places the viewer in a decidedly masculine space, in this case through an informal assembly of a pipe with burning embers, burnt-out matches, and a newspaper.
Curatorial RemarksA Man's Table Reversed relates to Harnett's painting A Man's Table. Ours is apparently the exact reverse of the latter. Both paintings are mentioned in Alfred Frankenstein's AFTER THE HUNT, p. 166. "A Man's Table" at that time was owned by Millard Meiss of Princeton, New Jersey. Today apparently the whereabouts are unknown. VKO 8/1/94.;William Michael Harnett is the acknowledged innovator in the field of American "trompe l'oeil" ("fool the eye") painting. Harnett's still lifes were popular with an American public that enjoyed seeing ordinary objects depicted with artistry and thereby made extraordinary.
Deceiving the eye of the viewer into accepting the two-dimensional plane of the canvas as a three-dimensional space required a high degree of technical skill. Harnett studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts as well as the National Academy of Design and Cooper Union in New York City. In the 1880s he spent four years in Munich, Germany.
Painted in 1877, "A Man's Table Reversed" is a mirror image of "A Man's Table," a painting Harnett completed the same year. The work, showing a seemingly random gathering of mundane objects, is characteristic of Harnett. The shallow space, along with the arrangement of objects projecting over the edge of the table, heightens the illusionism of the picture.
William Michael Harnett is credited with kindling a brief but intense period of trompe l’oeil ("fool the eye") painting in America, of which his friend and colleague, John F. Peto, was also a master. Harnett emigrated from Cork, Ireland, to Philadelphia when he was a child. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and then in New York at Cooper Union and the National Academy of Design. In the early 1870s, he turned his attention to highly detailed still-life painting, which he created with astonishing skill, rendering ordinary objects with tangible verisimilitude. Harnett traveled to Europe in 1880, where he remained for six years, mainly in Munich, and created four versions of his most well-known painting, After the Hunt.
Painted in 1877, A Man’s Table Reversed is a mirror image of the artist’s painting A Man’s Table of the same year. As with many of Harnett’s works, the painting’s informal assemblage of a stoneware mug, pipe and tobacco, burnt-out matches, and books and magazines denotes a decidedly masculine flavor.
Deceiving the eye of the viewer into accepting the two-dimensional plane of the canvas as a three-dimensional space required a high degree of technical skill. Harnett studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts as well as the National Academy of Design and Cooper Union in New York City. In the 1880s he spent four years in Munich, Germany.
Painted in 1877, "A Man's Table Reversed" is a mirror image of "A Man's Table," a painting Harnett completed the same year. The work, showing a seemingly random gathering of mundane objects, is characteristic of Harnett. The shallow space, along with the arrangement of objects projecting over the edge of the table, heightens the illusionism of the picture.
William Michael Harnett is credited with kindling a brief but intense period of trompe l’oeil ("fool the eye") painting in America, of which his friend and colleague, John F. Peto, was also a master. Harnett emigrated from Cork, Ireland, to Philadelphia when he was a child. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and then in New York at Cooper Union and the National Academy of Design. In the early 1870s, he turned his attention to highly detailed still-life painting, which he created with astonishing skill, rendering ordinary objects with tangible verisimilitude. Harnett traveled to Europe in 1880, where he remained for six years, mainly in Munich, and created four versions of his most well-known painting, After the Hunt.
Painted in 1877, A Man’s Table Reversed is a mirror image of the artist’s painting A Man’s Table of the same year. As with many of Harnett’s works, the painting’s informal assemblage of a stoneware mug, pipe and tobacco, burnt-out matches, and books and magazines denotes a decidedly masculine flavor.