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William Michael Harnett

Plucked Clean, 1882

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 65

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 86.84 × 51.75 cm (34 3/16 × 20 3/8 in.)

framed: 102.87 × 67.95 × 4.76 cm (40 1/2 × 26 3/4 × 1 7/8 in.)

Credit Line

Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase, William A. Clark Fund)

Accession Number

2014.136.133

Artists / Makers

William Michael Harnett (painter) American, 1848 - 1892

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Inscription

lower left, WMH in monogram: WMHARNETT. / 1882 [1]

Inscription Notes

[1] Alfred Frankenstein, who found the painting in 1942, recorded the signature as "W.M. Harnett, München, 1882." in a letter to his mother describing his find (see Provenance for the painting).

Provenance

Purchased 1942 by Alfred Frankenstein [1906-1981], San Francisco;[1] purchased 1943 by (Arnold Seligman & Rey, New York); (sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 23-24 May 1951, no. 593); puchased by H. Turner. George Morris and Edwin Weldon, Weston, Connecticut; on consignment 1970 with (Hirschl & Adler Galeries, New York); returned to Morris and Weldon; consigned May 1975 to (Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York); purchased 1977 by the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; acquired 2014 by the National Gallery of Art.

[1] In an undated letter written to his mother shortly after Christmas, Alfred Frankenstein relates the detailed story of finding the painting in a second-hand store along Sutter Street (Alfred Frankenstein Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington: Roll 1374, frames 470-473). In a letter of 17 December 1969 to Mark Weinstein, attorney for George Morris and Edwin Weldon, Frankenstein wrote that he found the painting "in a second-hand shop on Sutter Street in San Francisco just before Christmas in the year 1942, and I sold it some months later..." Copies of both letters are in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Corcoran Gallery of Art
Frankenstein, Alfred
Hirschl & Adler Galleries
Hirschl & Adler Galleries
Morris, George
Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc.
Seligmann, Rey & Co., Arnold
Turner, H.
Weldon, Edwin

Exhibition History

1976: The American Experience, Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 27 October - 27 November 1976, no. 50, repro.

1978: The Object as Subject: Still Lifes at the Corcoran, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 10 December 1978 - 4 February 1979, unpublished checklist.

1982: Acquisitions Since 1975, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 5 November 1982 - 16 January 1983, unpublished checklist.

1986: More than Meets the Eye: The Art of Trompe l'Oeil, Columbus Museum of Art; Norton Gallery and School of Art, Palm Beach; 1985-1986, no. 45.

1992: William M. Harnett, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1992-1993, no. 25.

1999: America: The New World in 19th Century Painting, Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna, 17 March - 20 June 1999, no. 89.

2002: Deceptions and Illusions: Five Centuries of Trompe l'Oeil Painting, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2002-2003, no. 22.

2005: Encouraging American Genius: Master Paintings from the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY; Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte; John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, 2005-2007, checklist no. 50.

2008: The American Evolution: A History through Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1 March - 27 July 2008, unpublished checklist.

2009: Inganni ad arte, Meraviglie del Trompe-l'oeil dall'antichita al contemporaneo, Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, 16 October 2009 - 24 January 2010.

Bibliography

2002: Deceptions and Illusions: Five Centuries of Trompe l'Oeil Painting. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2002-2003: no. 22.

2011: Staiti, Paul. " William Michael Harnett, Plucked Clean." In Corcoran Gallery of Art: American Paintings to 1945. Edited by Sarah Cash. Washington, 2011: 158-159, 270, repro.