Existing comment:
Claude Raguet Hirst
Books and Pottery Vase, early 1900s
At the turn of the 20th century, Hirst's meticulous still lifes held such public appeal that, as one critic wrote, "they are apt to be hanging crooked... as people take them down so many times to hold them and look at them." While touching art in galleries was discouraged then, as it is now, close examination was precisely the response that Hirst sought. The painter was one of a handful of Gilded Age artists -- and the only female (her first name was shortened from Claudine) -- to gain critical acclaim for illusionary imagery.
In this painting, Hirst presents an arrangement of old books and a ceramic pot with Asian motifs. She draws the eye to a brightly lit, opened book rendered with such precision that words can be read from its pages. The worn volume was one of the artist's favorite: a 1795 English translation of Bernardin de Saint-Pierre's romantic novel, Paul and Virginia. The painting's frame -- contemporary with the canvas but not original -- offers its own visual surprise. The beautiful curling grain is actually painted. One trompe-l'oeil triumph supports the other. |