Kay Nielsen (whose first name is pronounced "kigh"), (1886-1957) was a
Danish illustrator who was popular in the early 20th century, the "golden age of
illustration" which lasted from when Daniel Vierge and other pioneers developed
printing technology to the point that drawings and paintings could be reproduced
with reasonable facility,
John Frederick Peto (May 21, 1854 – November 23, 1907) was an American trompe
l'oeil ("fool the eye") painter who was long forgotten until his paintings were
rediscovered along with those of fellow trompe l'oeil artist William Harnett.
Although Peto and the slightly older Harnett knew each other and painted similar
subjects, their careers followed different paths. Peto was born in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, and studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts at the
same time as Harnett.[1] Until he was in his mid-thirties, he submitted
paintings regularly to the annual exhibitions at the Philadelphia Academy. In
1889, he moved to the resort town of Island Heights, New Jersey, where he worked
in obscurity for the rest of his life. He and his wife took in seasonal
boarders, he found work playing cornet at the town's camp revival meetings, and
he supplemented his income by selling his paintings to tourists.[2] He never had
a gallery exhibition in his lifetime.[3] Harnett, on the other hand, achieved
success and had considerable influence on other artists painting in the trompe
l'oeil genre, but even his paintings were given the snub by critics as mere
novelty and trickery.
Both artists were masters of trompe l'oeil, a genre of still life that aims to
deceive the viewer into mistaking painted objects for reality. Exploiting the
fallibility of human perception, the trompe l'oeil painter depicts objects in
accordance with a set of rules unique to the genre. For example, Peto and
Harnett both represented the objects in their paintings at their actual size,
and the objects rarely were cut off by the edge of the painting, as this would
allow a visual cue to the viewer that the depiction was not real. But the main
technical device was to arrange the subject matter in a shallow space, using the
shadow of the objects to suggest depth without the eye seeing actual depth. Thus
the term trompe l'oeil—"fool the eye." Both artists enthrall the viewer with a
disturbing but pleasant sense of confusion.
Letter Rack by PetoPeto's paintings, generally considered less technically
skilled than Harnett's,[4] are more abstract, use more unusual color, and often
have a stronger emotional resonance. Peto's mature works have an opaque and
powdery texture which is often compared to Chardin.[5]
The subject matter of Peto's paintings consisted of the most ordinary of things:
pistols, horseshoes, bits of paper, keys, books, and the like. He frequently
painted old time "letter racks," which were a kind of board that used ribbons
tacked into a square that held notes, letters, pencils, and photographs. Many of
Peto's paintings reinterpret themes Harnett had painted earlier,[6] but Peto's
compositions are less formal and his objects are typically rustier, more worn,
less expensive looking.[7]
Other artists who practiced trompe l'oeil in the late nineteenth century include
John Haberle and Jefferson David Chalfant. Otis Kaye followed several decades
later.
A pioneering study of Peto and Harnett is Alfred Frankenstein's After the Hunt,
William Harnett and Other American Still Life Painters 1870-1900. Frankenstein's
book itself is a fantastic tale of solving the mystery of why these artists were
forgotten for much of the twentieth century.
Notes
^ Frankenstein, 1970, p. 94.
^ Frankenstein, 1970, p. 94.
^ Schwartz, 1990, p. 85.
^ Wilmerding, 1983, p. 32.
^ Schwartz, 1990, p. 87.
^ Schwartz, 1990, p. 87.
^ Frankenstein, 1970, p. 110.
References
Frankenstein, Alfred (1970). The Reality of Appearance. Greenwich: New York
Graphic Society. ISBN 0821203576
Schwartz, Sanford (1990). Artists and Writers. New York: Yarrow Press. ISBN
1-878274-01-5
Wilmerding, John (1983).Important Information Inside. New York: Harper & Row.
ISBN 0-06-438941-3
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