THE ARTIST John Frederick Peto (1854-1907) American Trompe l'oeil Painter
THE TIMES Trompe l’oeil means to deceive the eye in a painting that is so carefully crafted that the viewers think they are looking at real objects rather than a painting of the objects. These paintings are often arranged to look as if the objects are in windows or tacked onto a wooden door. Painting an object that looks as though it is really there requires a high degree of technical skill in painting shadows, textures, and colors as they would naturally appear. Trompe l’oeil painters painted objects at actual size and objects were never cut off the edge of the canvas, which further enhanced the illusion of being real. Americans loved these visual tricks in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when people did not have movies or video games to entertain. A person might be fooled into trying to pick up a painted coin, or brush away a painted moth resting on a painted envelope.
John Frederick Peto was an American painter. He grew up in Pennsylvania. His father, a woodworker and metalsmith, made picture frames and equipment for fire departments. In addition to painting, Peto developed an interest in the new invention of photography. This interest led him to paint in a style known as Trompe l'oeil or 'fool the eye'. At the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Peto became friends with William Harnett, another well-known painter of the style that fooled people with its realistic approach. Peto exhibited his paintings for eleven years at the academy. He then painted at his home in New Jersey, where he cared for his family.
Peto and Harnett had the power to make ordinary things into an extraordinary artistic experience. They used unusual and fun approaches. Think about the ordinary things in your kitchen and make something new out of them. A whole white egg may not be interesting, but look at what happens when you crack it. Have you ever thought of filling a clear glass with colored liquid as a way of adding more color to your painting? Peto did this in the painting we just looked at. Today I want you to play with the arrangement of your objects. Can you stack objects in an unusual way? Can you slice, cut, or crack a food so that we can see what’s inside? Two unique arrangements are shown below. Set up your own arrangement with items from the kitchen. Draw an outline of your arrangement with pencil. Then, finish the painting using the techniques you learned from the video instruction in Lesson 1.
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