All Trompe L'oeil painting uses light and shadow to create illusory forms and surfaces. This how-to manual introduces the techniques of painting with monochrome washes, a key element of Trompe L'oeil painting. It gives step-by step instructions for a variety of grisaille effects, shows how to utilize such avant-garde materials as sheet steel and plastic foil, and offers a collection of classical and modern motifs to copy.
From a countryside panorama in a windowless room to a faux mosaic wall, an intricately painted Oriental carpet to a soaring cathedral dome in a single-story room, Trompe l’oeil painting offers an art form ideal for contemporary interiors, adding color and aesthetic atmosphere and responding to specific architectural needs and situations. Trompe L’Oeil Today offers a fascinating overview of the range of styles and techniques of illusionistic painting for private residences and public spaces, restaurants and other commercial interiors, and even indoor swimming pools. It covers unusual techniques, such as anamorphism, and bold geometric patterns, as well as more traditional Trompe L’oeil subjects, including Pompeian-style wall paintings, classical arches and colonnades, landscapes, statues and reliefs, and elaborate ceiling treatments. The book defines the categories of illusionistic painting: material imitation, or faux finishes, ranging from marble and wood finishes to snake and crocodile skin; grisaille, including imaginary moldings, reliefs, and statuary; small-format trompe l’oeils, such as those painted in niches and on doors; and large panoramic murals. Experienced professionals, the authors address practical questions and offer helpful tips and tricks for choosing the right materials, technique, and style. They examine the use of perspective and the psychology of visual perception, presenting a visually beguiling array of painting possibilities. Trompe L’Oeil Today is an essential reference for artists and designers working in trompe l’oeil and in search of suggestions or inspiration, interior architects and decorators looking for an outline of what can be done to create new and different ambiances, and clients who plan to commission a work. Over 150 four-color photographs illustrate the architectural and aesthetic impact of professional illusionistic work. Trompe L’Oeil Today is an invaluable survey of an impressive, popular art form.
This catalogue was produced on the occasion of the exhibition Wade Guyton at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, October 4, 2012-February 2013.
Issued in connection with an exhibition held Oct. 5, 2010-Jan. 17, 2011, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and Feb. 23-May 30, 2011, National Gallery, London (selected paintings only).
This beautifully illustrated work brings together more than one hundred objects from the J. Paul Getty Museum’s collection of European decorative arts. Included here is a generous selection of French and Italian furniture from the mid-sixteenth to the early nineteenth century. Masterpieces by André-Charles Boulle, Bernard (II) van Risenburgh, and others reveal the virtuoso craftsmanship that makes these objects such compelling examples of the furniture maker’s art. Many of the Museum’s finest pieces of porcelain, glass, and tin-glazed earthenware are also represented. Tapestries from Gobelins and Beauvais, bronze firedogs from Fontainebleau, and a lathe-turned ivory goblet of astonishing complexity from Saxony are among the other highlights of this handsome volume.
