Communications
Artist
Kenneth Southworth Davies
(b. 1925)
Date1950
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions34 x 28 in.
ClassificationsOil Painting
Credit LineGift of William Newton, Jr.
Terms
Object number1976.02LIC
DescriptionSet against a simple, albeit austere setting, various carefully arranged objects animate the foreground of “Communications”. Davies’ ability to capture their surface texture, proportion, and interaction with light and shadow make for a masterful trompe l’oeil painting (French for “fool the eye”). The creased piece of paper which seems to bend out of the picture plane and into the space of the viewer adds to the three-dimensional, illusionistic quality of the work. Communications appeared on the cover of the September, 1950 issue of Fortune to accompany the story “Is Business Talking Too Much?” The painting’s dual role as both an intricate still life and a graphic visual for a magazine article is testament to the indistinguishable boundary between “fine art” and illustration.
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