In Review
MYSTERY MAN: Admirers of the Memorial Art Gallery鈥檚 painting The Printseller鈥檚 Window set out to find out more about its artist Walter Goodman (Photo: Walter Goodman, The Printseller鈥檚 Window (1882鈥�83)/Memorial Art Gallery)Curators at the Memorial Art Gallery are hot on the trail of an art history mystery.
In 1998, gallery director Grant Holcomb successfully bid on the painting The Printseller鈥檚 Window at a Sotheby鈥檚 auction. A review of the auction called the painting鈥攁 large oil on canvas鈥斺�渁 masterpiece.鈥�
But almost nothing was known about the artist, Walter Goodman, or the piece, which had been held in a private collection.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a major picture by an artist no one had heard of,鈥� says Nancy Norwood, curator of European art at the gallery.
鈥淚f we didn鈥檛 recognize the artist鈥檚 name when the painting came up for auction, we certainly recognized its singular quality and impact,鈥� Holcomb says.
Those at the Rochester museum weren鈥檛 alone in their appreciation. In 2002 the National Gallery of Art borrowed the piece for a major exhibition of trompe l鈥檕eil鈥斺�渇ool the eye鈥濃�攑ainting. Pierre Rosenberg, former director of the Louvre Museum, cited Goodman鈥檚 painting as one of 100 notable European artworks owned by American museums in his 2006 book, Only in America: 100 European Masterpieces in American Museums Unmatched in European Collections.
Intrigued by the painting鈥檚 mystery, Peter Brown, a retired attorney and member of the Memorial Art Gallery鈥檚 Board of Managers, has spent nearly the last decade tracking down information about the work and its聽creator.
The result is a special exhibition at the gallery, opening in August, called Walter Goodman鈥檚 The Printseller鈥檚 Window: Solving a Painter鈥檚 Puzzle.
鈥淚 wanted to know what was going on in the painting,鈥� says Brown. 鈥淎nd did Goodman have a secret message in mind?鈥�
Goodman, as Brown and Memorial Art Gallery chief curator Marjorie Searl came to learn, was an English painter, illustrator, and author who lived from 1838 to 1912. The whereabouts of most of his works are unknown. But Brown鈥檚 research鈥攕ome of which he carried out in repeated trips to England鈥攂rought him into contact with Goodman descendents, who are contributing works to the exhibition. One connection was forged through a Rochester woman whose sister is married to the artist鈥檚 grandson.
The Printseller鈥檚 Window depicts a bearded elderly man鈥攖he printseller鈥攁djusting the contents of his crowded shop window. A string of cartes de visite, photographic calling cards, from artists contemporary with Goodman runs across the painting鈥檚 middle, and their uncanny realism is perhaps the painting鈥檚 most striking example of trompe l鈥檕eil technique.
Goodman has painted a photograph of John Ruskin on the shelf below the calling cards, and its presence is central to Brown鈥檚 interpretation of the piece. He reads The Printseller鈥檚 Window as a painter鈥檚 response to then emerging photographic technology and the debates surrounding it. Victorian cultural critic Ruskin objected to painters who made use of photography in their work, says Brown, 鈥渁nd I think Goodman is at odds with Ruskin, and he鈥檚 putting it in his face.鈥�
The painting, which also alludes to Dutch still life, the commercialization of old masters鈥� works, and other movements within the art world, 鈥渋s rich in images,鈥� says Norwood. 鈥淭here are so many ways to interpret it.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 clear Goodman was having some fun with this,鈥� says Brown.
The exhibition opens on August 14 and runs until November 8 at the Memorial Art Gallery. For more information, visit the Web site, http://mag.rochester.edu.