EXHIBITION RECORD

Feast the Eye, Fool the Eye

Saturday, April 10, 2004 through Sunday, June 6, 2004

Feast the Eye
The Feast the Eye collection depicts table settings ranging from sumptuous to sparse, and small jewels such as Still Life with Shells by French painter Antoine Berjon. In Still Life with Kitchen Utensils, the anonymous German painter’s fascination with metallic colors and textures contrasts with the wispy surface treatment in Flowers in a Vase by the Spanish painter Juan de Arellano and with the ruffled flowers and vegetables by Venetian Master Francesco Guardi.

Fool the Eye
In addition to the beautiful still lifes are trompe-l’oeil paintings, which have been a favorite of European artistic sensibilities since birds were tempted to fly through the painted windows of Pompeii. Trompe-l’oeil – a French term literally meaning “trick the eye” is sometimes called illusionism. Trompe-l’oeil (pronounced trump-LOY) is a style of painting which gives the appearance of three-dimensional – or photographic – realism. The entire exhibition -- with its 43 paintings -- offers an opportunity to “feast” on the texture, colors and fantasies of still life artistry. And it offers a playful challenge to see if artists such as Alexander Pope and John Peto have succeeded in playing tricks on viewers’ well-trained eyes.

Other artists featured in the show include Victor Dubreuil, who specialized in painting money – so accurately, in fact, that he was once suspected by government officials of counterfeiting the U.S. dollar bill. His Two Dollar Bill is featured in the show. Robert Spear Dunning’s Wine, Pitcher, Grapes and Peaches typifies the artist’s fondness for large objects like pitchers and luscious looking fruit. With his Homage to a Parrot, DeScott Evans displays an element of playfulness, referring to his painting of a broken pane of glass and a straw-stuffed parrot as “indeed a still life.”

Press Release