John Frederick Peto American, 1854-1907
63.5 x 50.8 cm
An American master of trompe l’oeil, John Frederick Peto started his career as a still-life painter in Philadelphia before turning to rack pictures that began “as mostly literal and whimsical transcriptions of office boards with the practical possibility of serving as business advertisements,” as John Wilmerding has written. [1] Inspired by the letter racks of his era used to pin up photographs, letters and mementos, the motif dominated Peto’s output from 1879 to 1904 as commissions by shop owners for advertisements. He brought his own distinctive style to the still life genre, using the rack pictures as a vehicle for personal expression through the clues contained in the objects tucked behind the crisscrossed ribbons.
Wilmerding identified two periods within Peto’s rack pictures with the earlier phase revealing a whimsical spirit and bright palette, which can be seen in the use of orange and pink and selection of images in Office Board for Christian Faser. This example displays the confidence of his mature trompe l’oeil painting along with the signature elements of the rack pictures. The painting was commissioned by Christian Faser, a Philadelphia dealer of frames and mirrors whose business is advertised on the card at center, and his image is probably the one featured on the upside-down photograph in the upper left quadrant. Other recurring items from this early phase include the cover for the Philadelphia Public Ledger Almanac (that establishes the picture's 1881 date), a greeting card, several pieces of mail, and the torn yellow envelope labelled, “Important Information Inside.” Regarding this item in particular, Wilmerding notes, “the legend on the torn envelope holds out information for us but does not yield it fully. The name and signs and dates in Peto are usually enough to fix a work in time and place, yet they invite the viewer to contemplate secrets within. The fact is that Peto does not reveal the ‘Important information Inside’ but forces us to see words, shapes and colors for their non-verbal, aesthetic qualities.” [2]
[1] John Wilmerding, Important Information Inside, Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1982, p. 6.
[2] Wilmerding, p. 219.
Provenance
The artist;Christian Faser, Philadelphia;
[Harry Shaw Newman, New York];
[Clifton Blake, Hoosick Falls, New York]; to
[Ginsburg & Levy, New York]; to
John W. Barnes, New York, by 1950; to
Mrs. John W. Barnes, Silvermine, Connecticut, by 1965; to
[Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York]; to
Jo Ann and Julian Ganz, Jr., Los Angeles, 1971; to
[James Maroney, Inc., New York]; to
Kathryn and Robert Steinberg, New York, until 1993; to
[James Graham & Sons, New York];
[Hirschl & Adler, New York]; to
Walter B. and Marcia F. Goldfarb, Portland Maine; to
Estate of Walter B. Goldfarb, 2021
Exhibitions
The Brooklyn Museum, New York; Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts; California Palace of the Legion on Honor, San Francisco; John F. Peto, March 1-July 19, 1950, pp. 18, 27, 45, no. 2Lawrence Art Museum, Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts, American Still-Life: Peale to Peto, January 5-23, 1954, no. 24, illus.
Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts, An Exhibition of Works of Art Lent by the Alumni of Williams College, May 5-June 16, 1962, p. 29, no. 64
La Jolla Museum of Art, California; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California, The Reminiscent Object: Paintings by William Michael Harnett, John Frederick Peto and John Haberle, July 11-October 31, 1965, no. 24, illus.
Hirschl & Adler, New York, American Still Lifes of the Nineteenth Century, December 1-31, 1971, no. 32, illus.
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California, American Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings from the Collection of Jo Ann and Julian Ganz, Jr., June 23-July 22, 1973, no. 52, illus.
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, An American Perspective, Nineteenth-Century Art from the Collection of Jo Ann and Julian Ganz, Jr., October 4, 1981-September 26, 1982, pp. 106, 156, illus. fig. 97
James Graham & Sons, New York, American Nineteenth & Early Twentieth Century Paintings, Watercolors & Sculpture: The Collection of Kathryn and Robert Steinberg, May 25-October 2, 1993, no. 6
Portland Museum of Art, Maine, A Magnificent Stillness: American Art from a Private Collection, June 26-November 8, 2015
Literature
Alfred Frankenstein, After the Hunt: William Harnett and Other American Still-Life Painters 1870-1900, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1969, revised edition, pp. xix, 103, 108, illus. pl. 83Bulletin, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, June 1973, illus.
Henry J. Seldis, “Collecting: An Adventure for Jo Ann and Julian Ganz,” Los Angeles Times, July 8, 1973, p. 60, illus.
Donelson F. Hoopes, “The Jo Ann and Julian Ganz, Jr. Collection,” American Art Review, vol. 1, September-October 1973, no. 56, illus.
Mahonri Sharp Young, “Letter from the U.S.A.: American Objects,” Apollo, vol. CXIV, October 1981, p. 259, illus. fig. 3
John Wilmerding, “An American perspective: nineteenth-century art from the collection of Jo Ann and Julian Ganz, Jr.,” The Magazine Antiques, vol. CXXI, no. 1, January 1982, p. 274, illus. pl. XXVIII
John Wilmerding, “Images of Lincoln in Peto’s Late Paintings,” Archives of American Art Journal, vol. XXII, no. 2, 1982, p. 7, illus. fig. 6
John Russell, “Art View—An American Master Comes Into His Own,” The New York Times, January 30, 1983, sec. 2, “Arts and Leisure,” pp. 27-28
John Wilmerding, Important Information Inside: The Art of John F. Peto and the Idea of Still-Life Painting in Nineteenth Century America, Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1983, pp. 4, 196, 208-9, 219, 256, no. 202, p. 262, illus. figs. 202, 203, 206 and frontispiece
Doreen Bolger, "Cards and Letters from His Friends," Mr. Hulings' Rack Picture by William Michael Harnett," The American Art Journal, Summer 1990, p. 5. illus. fig. 5
Susan Tallman, "On Substance," Art in Print, July-August 2011, p. 2, illus.
Portland Museum of Art, Maine, A Magnificent Stillness: American Art from a Private Collection, June 26-November 8, 2015, n.p., illus. pl. 12
