Trompe l’oeil: The Art of Deception

Gregory West, Book Bag, oil on panel, 2012

Debra Teare (above, left to right), The Message, 1969; Domino Effect, 1969; Good Medicine, 2006

Like most children growing up during the late ’60s, I had a View- Master, a boxy red plastic stereoscope viewer. It came with a matching case to be filled with reels, thin cardboard disks each containing seven 3D color photographs. If I held the viewer up to a tabletop lamp, the cities of Europe sprang to life, the images crisp and colors sharp, as I found myself on the canals of Copenhagen, lined on both sides with colorful row houses. A click of the lever, and I looked up at Big Ben with its spire and lancet windows gleaming in the afternoon sunlight. Another click, and I was among tourists gathering below the latticed girders and pillars of the Eiffel Tower. These 3D images had such a tactile realism—a simultaneous sense of space and intimacy—that I felt I could reach out and touch each landmark. Despite it all being a trick of the eye, an illusion that disappeared when I flipped off the lamp, I enjoyed the pleasure of being deceived.

A similar art of deception is at the heart of trompe l’oeil (“deceive the eye”), a French phrase for paintings that attempt to trick the viewer into thinking their subjects are real rather than mere imitations of reality. The goal of the artist is to reproduce an object or scene, often a commonplace one, with enough exactitude—an almost aggressive reality—that it seems to exist in three-dimensional space. The painting’s heightened verisimilitude should prompt viewers to want to reach out and touch the composition. Trompe l’oeil shares with still-life painting an interest in the artful arrangement and careful study of objects, but its technique

Debra Teare, Textures in Tin, 2007; Persistence-of-Vision, 2008

Gregory West, Top Shelf, oil on panel, 2012; Fig Newton, oil on panel, 2017

Gregory West, Book Ends, oil on panel, 2018

avoids interpretation beyond what is represented in the real world. Its one primary goal is the triumph of visual illusion.

Trompe l’oeil’s quest for visual fidelity results in a set of well-defined rules that guide everything from style and technique to subject matter. The composition must be a life-size representation that fits perfectly in the setting for which it is intended. The painting should convey a sense of depth and dimension, with its objects standing out sharply and appearing to occupy the spectator’s space. The artist creates this three- dimensional perspective by projecting objects out of the frame through hard lines, dark, intensified shadows, brilliant highlights, invisible brushstrokes, and expertly blended colors, usually a harmony of muted tones. Live figures are avoided because their appearance seldom deceives the viewer and their dress and accessories tend to date the painting.

Sharon Moody, Famous Beauties, oil on panel, 2005

Sharon Moody, Rock, Paper, Scissors, oil on canvas, 2008; Yesterday’s Heroes, oil on panel, 2015; It’s Wonder Woman, oil on panel, 2017

Janet Monafo, White Eggs, White Eggplants, pastel on paper, 2007

The charm of trompe l’oeil lies in its vocabulary of familiar and disorderly arranged objects. Classical statuary, shells, butterflies, snakes, and apothecary bottles are scattered among quill pens, dog-eared books, musical instruments, and other exotic curios. These treasures of various kinds are displayed projecting outward from curio cabinets, wall cupboards, and half-opened glass paneled doors or tucked away in niches

Janet Monafo, Red Globes and Apricots, pastel on paper, 2002; Fruit and Flowers, pastel on paper, 2018...