Plucked Clean

1882

William Michael Harnett

Painter, American, 1848 - 1892

Media Options

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On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 65

Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

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

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as Subject: Still Lifes at the Corcoran, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 10 December 1978 - 4 February 1979, unpublished checklist.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  • Acquisitions Since 1975, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 5 November 1982 - 16 January 1983, unpublished checklist.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.

2022

  • Hyperreal: The Art of Trompe l'Oeil, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, 2022, no. 75, repro.

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.

Inscriptions

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

Wikidata ID

Q46631052

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