Expressions of Illusion: The History and Creativity of Trompe L’oeil

Thursday, November 19 6 p.m. CST Buy Tickets Members: $10 Adults: $15

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Artists and craftspeople have long employed illusions to create stunning visual expressions that have captivated and allured viewers for centuries. Depicted so realistically, you might mistake an insect or hanging violin as being right before your eyes. Trompe l’oeil, French for ‘fool’ or ‘deceive the eye’ continues to be a technique in art that can carry meanings and expressions beyond what is seen. From innocent to subversive, social to symbolic—comprehending how trompe l’oeil has been used within art is guaranteed to entrance.

Join Paul Neumann, museum consultant and art historian, as he surveys this captivating artistic technique from ancient Pompeii to contemporary art, as seen in The Richard H. Driehaus Museum’s current exhibition, A Tale of Today: Nate Young and Mika Horobuchi. In addition to Young and Horibuchi, Neumann will discuss Dutch, Italian, Spanish, French, and American artists such as Bartolome Esteban Murillo, Duane Hanson, William Michael Harnett, and others.

This presentation is a virtual lecture on Zoom that will be 45-minutes long with a Q&A following. Registration is required.

Paul Neumann has worked at the New-York Historical Society, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Frick Collection, and was previously an educator with the Chicago Architecture Center and was the Acting Executive Director at Pleasant Home, a historic house in Oak Park, Illinois. Neumann holds a BFA in Sculpture and Mixed Media from Virginia Commonwealth University and an MA in Museum Studies from Georgetown University.

Image top: Nate Young and Mika Horibuchi installation photographs by Michael Tropea at The Richard H. Driehaus Museum, 2020. Image above: Pere Borrell del Caso (Spain 1835-1910) Escaping Criticism, 1874. Oil on canvas. Image file accessed at Wikimedia Commons.