William Michael Harnett (American, 1848-1892), "Fruit and Asparagus", 1875, oil on canvas, signed and dated lower left, "Coe Kerr Gallery, New York, NY", "Kennedy Galleries, New York, NY", "Meredith Long & Co., Houston, TX" and "Adelson Galleries Inc., New York, NY" labels with artist, title and date attached to backing board, "F.J. Ulrich, New York, NY" label and inscribed on stretcher, 18 in. x 24 in., framed, overall 29 1/2 in. x 35 1/4 in. x 3 1/2 in.; accompanied by a copy of a letter by William H. Gerdts, Professor of Art History at City University Graduate School in New York analyzing the painting. (2 pcs.)

Provenance: Jess Pavey, Birmingham, Michigan, by 1969; Knoedler & Co., New York, NY; Kennedy Galleries, New York, NY; Coe Kerr Gallery, New York, NY; Meredith Long & Company, Houston, TX; Adelson Galleries, New York, NY; Private Collection, 1979; The Estate of Caroline P. Ireland.

Ill.: Frankenstein, Alfred V. After the Hunt: William Harnett and Other American Still Life Painters, 1870-1900. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975, p. 165.

Exh.: National Academy of Design, New York, NY, 1875; National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; University Art Museum, Berkeley, CA; Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA; The Reality of Appearance: The Trompe L’Oeil Tradition in American Painting, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI, Mar. – Oct. 1970, and listed in the accompanying catalogue no. 20, pp. 15, 58-59.

Note: William Michael Harnett was born in Ireland in 1848 and immigrated to Philadelphia with his parents when he was an infant. While he is primarily known for his meticulously rendered trompe l’oeil paintings, he started his artistic career as an engraver and eventually enrolled in the Antiques class at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He later took classes at Cooper Union and the National Academy of Design in New York.

Between 1874 and 1876, Harnett switched his preferred medium to oil on canvas and executed a small group—only four of this scale are known—of stunningly detailed still lifes of fruit, including the important lot offered here entitled “Fruit and Asparagus.” This rare group of still lifes serves as a fascinating precursor to his celebrated trompe l’oeil compositions. “Fruit and Asparagus” is a skilled display of texture and color with hyper-realistic renderings that clearly lay the groundwork for his later paintings. The pebbled, round bodies of the oranges noticeably contrast with the smooth ceramic vase and rough, hairy coconut. The crisp pages of the newspaper lend depth to a relatively shallow plane and add a layer of dimensionality that is described in great detail in a letter from William H. Gerdts:

“Deceptive illusionism is the key to Harnett’s painting as it was not to the previous generations. And to heighten that, Harnett had introduced the newspaper which stretched beyond the edge of the marble table, that is, beyond the picture plane and seemingly out into the space of the viewer. His mastery of the nature of newspaper and the illusion of printing on it… are qualities he will repeat over and over again in the future and which will be taken up by his myriad of followers but it is found here for the first time.”

Ref.: “William Michael Harnett”. National Gallery of Art. www.nga.gov. Accessed Oct. 5, 2023.

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