Collier: A tale of art and illusion from 17th century
Sunday, May 29, 2022
  • Circulation
  • Advertise
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
Organiser
  • ‌
  • Bharat
  • World
  • Editorial
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Defence
  • Sports
  • Business
  • More
    • RSS in News
    • Special Report
    • Culture
    • Sci & Tech
    • Entertainment
    • Education
    • Books
    • Interviews
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Obituary
SUBSCRIBE
No Result
View All Result
Organiser
  • ‌
  • Bharat
  • World
  • Editorial
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Defence
  • Sports
  • Business
  • More
    • RSS in News
    • Special Report
    • Culture
    • Sci & Tech
    • Entertainment
    • Education
    • Books
    • Interviews
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Obituary
No Result
View All Result
Organiser
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Bharat
  • World
  • Editorial
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Culture
  • Defence
  • RSS in News
  • Subscribe
Home General

Collier: A tale of art and illusion from 17th century

Archive Manager by Archive Manager
Oct 27, 2012, 12:00 am IST
in General
Jeay Sindh Freedom Movement chairman Sohail Abro

Jeay Sindh Freedom Movement chairman Sohail Abro

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterTelegramEmail

Dr Vaidehi Nathan
Mr. Collier’s Letter Racks: A Tale of Art & Illusion at the Threshold of the Modern Information Age, Dror Wahrman, Oxford University Press,  Pp 275, $ 34.95

Mr. Collier was a painter of the late 17th–early 18th century, who was taken little notice of  and has been forgotten. His works, a challenge to the intellect of the viewer did not catch the imagination of people. Dror Wahrman, who chanced upon his works in a museum took this challenge up. His book, Mr. Collier’s Letter Racks – A Tale of Art & Illusion at the Threshold of the Modern Information Age, presents to the reader the joy of this discovery.

Collier, born in Holland came to England and settled there. He specialised in an art form called trompe l’oeil, which in painting creates an illusion of three dimension. For instance, painting a window on the wall as though to make it appear  there is a window. Dror Wahrman gives a detailed introduction to Collier’s work by discussing the first painting of his that caught his attention. It is a letter rack. It has three leather straps. Under each, there are objects. It is these objects that have the clue to a kind of puzzle that Collier set up for himself. Reading it would seem as though the artist was afraid someone may discover his ‘secret.’ “Nothing in these paintings is really what it seems. This is because Collier was an artist who specialized in trompe l’oeil paintings, although this term would not be coined for another century.”

Trompe l’oeil was practised during the period of Collier, with the letter rack itself being a popular theme. Dror takes up Collier’s paintings and deciphers them for the readers. “Such eye-deceiving paintings try to fool the beholder into believing they they are the real thing they represent…: but they are not. They are illusionist deceptions.”

But the end gets as gripping as Collier might have desired. The main feature of the paintings, the letter racks themselves are probably part of this trompe l’oeil. For, according to the limited research undertaken by Dror, letter racks were not in vogue during the 17th-18th centuries, though every other object depicted in the paintings are familiar till date. To understand Collier’s works one has to have a sound knowledge of history, which the author has. Dror Wahrman is Ruth N Halls Professor of History at Indiana University and Professor of History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

(Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2, 6DP, United Kingdom)

ShareTweetSendShareSend
Previous News

Mass Suryanamaskar to commemorate Vivekananda’s Chicago address

Next News

The half a per cent super class syndrome

Related News

#MannKiBaat: Yoga Day 2022 to be unique and will follow Sun’s ‘Guardian Ring’ : PM Modi

#MannKiBaat: Yoga Day 2022 to be unique and will follow Sun’s ‘Guardian Ring’ : PM Modi

Bill Gates lauds India’s vaccination drive in meeting with Mansukh Mandaviya at Davos

Bill Gates lauds India’s vaccination drive in meeting with Mansukh Mandaviya at Davos

Indian Railways’ engineering marvel, New Pamban Bridge, to be ready in a year

Indian Railways’ engineering marvel, New Pamban Bridge, to be ready in a year

India’s daily cases fall below 3,000-mark, logs in 2,568 new COVID-19 infections

India reports 2,828 new COVID-19 cases, 14 deaths in last 24 hours

Systematic Uyghur genocide depicts human rights abuses against ethnic minorities in China: Report

Chinese Minister says China’s human rights protection will be aligned to national ‘conditions’

HUGE Security layer deployed as PM Modi & Amit Shah to attend GT vs RR IPL Final

HUGE Security layer deployed as PM Modi & Amit Shah to attend GT vs RR IPL Final

Comments

The comments posted here/below/in the given space are not on behalf of Organiser. The person posting the comment will be in sole ownership of its responsibility. According to the central government's IT rules, obscene or offensive statement made against a person, religion, community or nation is a punishable offense, and legal action would be taken against people who indulge in such activities.

Latest News

#MannKiBaat: Yoga Day 2022 to be unique and will follow Sun’s ‘Guardian Ring’ : PM Modi

#MannKiBaat: Yoga Day 2022 to be unique and will follow Sun’s ‘Guardian Ring’ : PM Modi

Bill Gates lauds India’s vaccination drive in meeting with Mansukh Mandaviya at Davos

Bill Gates lauds India’s vaccination drive in meeting with Mansukh Mandaviya at Davos

Indian Railways’ engineering marvel, New Pamban Bridge, to be ready in a year

Indian Railways’ engineering marvel, New Pamban Bridge, to be ready in a year

India’s daily cases fall below 3,000-mark, logs in 2,568 new COVID-19 infections

India reports 2,828 new COVID-19 cases, 14 deaths in last 24 hours

Systematic Uyghur genocide depicts human rights abuses against ethnic minorities in China: Report

Chinese Minister says China’s human rights protection will be aligned to national ‘conditions’

HUGE Security layer deployed as PM Modi & Amit Shah to attend GT vs RR IPL Final

HUGE Security layer deployed as PM Modi & Amit Shah to attend GT vs RR IPL Final

Kerala govt hand in glove with terrorist groups: MoS V Muraleedharan on PFI sloganeering

PM Modi lauds success of cooperatives in Gujarat, says self-reliance solution to many difficulties faced by the country

PM Modi lauds success of cooperatives in Gujarat, says self-reliance solution to many difficulties faced by the country

US slams China for ‘restricting, manipulating’ UN human rights chief’s visit

US slams China for ‘restricting, manipulating’ UN human rights chief’s visit

PM Modi invites citizens to share ‘inspiring life journeys’ for the upcoming episode of ‘Mann ki Baat’

PM Modi to address 89th edition of Mann Ki Baat today

  • Circulation
  • Advertise
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy

© Bharat Prakashan (Delhi) Limited.
Tech-enabled by Ananthapuri Technologies

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Bharat
  • World
  • Editorial
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Defence
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Business
  • RSS in News
  • Special Report
  • Sci & Tech
  • Entertainment
  • Education
  • Books
  • Interviews
  • Travel
  • Health
  • Obituary
  • Subscribe
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Circulation
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy

© Bharat Prakashan (Delhi) Limited.
Tech-enabled by Ananthapuri Technologies