Spanierman Gallery | An American Art Blog

Michael Theise, "Frances," 2004, oil on panel, 17-3/4 x 13-1/4 inches

Lisa N. Peters

By blurring the line between reality and illusion, trompe l’oeil paintings have beguiled and fascinated viewers since antiquity.  The late nineteenth century was the heyday for the genre in America, when artists such as William Harnett, John Frederick Peto, and John Haberle appealed to masculine tastes in meticulous depictions of humble items such as mugs and pipes as well as catered to the refined gentleman in views of Turkish rugs, antiques, and musical instruments.  Other common subjects were dead game (celebrating the rewards of the hunt), money (in which artist played recklessly close to the counterfeiter), and the portrayal of two-dimensional surfaces such as boards, doors, and racks, on which the illusion of flatness enhanced the sense of believability. In this age of what Stephen Colbert has called “truthiness,” it makes sense that trompe l’oeil would experience another upsurge, which is confirmed in the exhibition, Reality Check: Contemporary American Trompe L’Oeil, on view at the Brandywine River Museum, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, through November 18.

Michael Theise, who has recently joined the roster of Spanierman Gallery artists, is among the twenty-three artists in the show.  An artist who once applied his passion for intense attention to detail to the painting of African wildlife, Theise was drawn naturally to the trompe l’oeil tradition, in which he follows his predecessors in the portrayal of such subjects as currency, playing cards, and game-boards.  The legacy of Peto is especially apparent in Theise’s predilection for board pictures to which flat items, notably reproductions of works of art, seem to have been adhered (see Peto’s Patch Painting, 1886).  In these Theise probes the iconic value of such recognizable works, exploring issues of identity and deception. Read the rest of this entry »