Abstract

Art

Revivals do not happen by accident, and a case in point is that of American illusionist painting of the last third of the 19th century. The revival began in the 1930s with the recognition of artist William M. Harnett, now, thirty-five years later, some of the reasons for it have become clear. The exhibition at the Whitney Museum called "The Reality of Appearance" is an opportunity to consider the topicality of trompe l'oeil. The show arranged by artist Alfred Frankenstein for the University Art Museum, Berkeley, California is a fascinating survey of the three masters, Harnett, John Frederick Peto and John Haberle, plus ancestors and satellites. Leaving aside the desire for an American past, both as history and as commodity, one of the reasons that trompe l'oeil may have been revivable is that it was flat. The formal requirement of flatness in painting, mandatory in post-Impressionism, later Cubism and Abstract art, is united here with familiar subject matter.