William Michael Harnett American, born Ireland, 1848–1892
About this artwork
One of only three works William Michael Harnett painted in the year before his death, Just Dessert offers the viewer a display of foodstuffs sumptuously arranged on a marble surface. The traditional tabletop composition is one that Harnett often employed in his still lifes. In Just Dessert, the exotic clashes with the quotidian—Maraschino liqueur, half a coconut, and Smyrna figs rest alongside a copper pitcher, pewter tankard, and ginger jar. Small crumbs of cork are visible on the grapes and fig seeds are smashed on the side of the wooden box, indicating that the dessert has been eaten, as well as highlighting Harnett’s skillful renderings in trompe l’oeil (fool-the-eye) painting.
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Wolfgang Born, Still Life Painting in America (Oxford University Press, 1947), fig. 80.
Art Institute of Chicago, Masterpieces in The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Hillison and Etten Co., 1952).
Alfred Frankenstein, After the Hunt, William Harnett and other American Still Life Painters, 1870–1900 (University of California Press, 1953), 67, 92, 173–74, cat. 124.
Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 1961), 210 (ill.).
Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 1968), 216, 386 (ill.).
John Maxon, The Art Institute of Chicago (Abrams, 1970), 107 (ill.).
David Hanks, “American Paintings at The Art Institute of Chicago, Part II, The Nineteenth Century,” Magazine Antiques 104, 5 (Nov. 1973), 895–905 (ill.).
Doreen Bolger, Marc Simpson, and John Wilmerding, William M. Harnett (Abrams, 1992), 82, 166, 187, 189, 219, pl. 47.
Judith A. Barter et al., American Arts at The Art Institute of Chicago: From Colonial Times to World War I (Art Institute of Chicago, 1998), 256–59, no. 125.
Julie L’Enfant, “Other Realities: The Art of Paul S. Kramer” (Afton Press, 2013), (ill.).
Milwaukeee Art Institute, Nineteenth Century American Masters, Feb 20–Mar 28, 1948, no. 22, no cat.
New York, Downtown Gallery, Harnett Centennial Exhibition, Apr 13–May 1, 1948, cat. 18.
Durand Art Institute, Lake Forest College, Ill., A Century of American Painting: Masterpieces Loaned by The Art Institute of Chicago, Jun 10–16, 1957, cat. 11.
New York, M. Knoedler and Company, Apr–May 1958.
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Still–Life Paintings of William M. Harnett, Mar 16–Jun 14, 1992; Fort Worth, Amon Carter Museum, Jul 17– Oct 18, 1992, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Nov 14, 1992–Feb 14, 1993, Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, Mar 14–Jun 13, 1993.
Nagaoka, Japan, Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Masterworks of Modern Art from The Art Institute of Chicago, Apr 20–Mar 29, 1994, cat. 49; Nagoya, Japan, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Jun 10–Jul 24, 1994, Yokohama, Japan, Yokohama Museum of Art, Aug 6–Sep 25, 1994.
Art Institute of Chicago, Art and Appetite: American Painting, Culture, and Cuisine, Nov 10, 2013–Jan 27, 2014; Fort Worth, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Feb 22–May 18, 2014.
Private collection, Philadelphia; Downtown Gallery, New York City, by 1942; sold to The Art Institute of Chicago, 1942.
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