A Man's Table Reversed

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.