Art imitates, or alludes to, (true) UL
Bruce Tindall
keeps getting in trouble with the U.S. Secret Service because
he draws very realistic pictures of $100 bills and trades them
for goods and services, always scrupulously pointing out that
they are not real money.
Yesterday in the Metropolitan Museum in N'yawk I saw a painting
from the 1890's that alluded to a somewhat similar case that was
in the news at that time. The painting, "A Bachelor's Drawer" by
John Haberle, is a trompe l'oeil, made to look as if it's a real,
three-dimensional drawer full of a humorous collection of objects
that a bachelor, or perhaps a very recently married man, might
have stashed in his desk drawer. One of the items is a newspaper
clipping that reads:
"A New Haven artist has plunged himself into trouble by making
too perfect greenbacks in oil. Others have often had trouble by
losing too perfect greenbacks in oil."
(The reference to "losing greenbacks in oil" presumably refers
to people who lost money speculating in oil companies' stocks.
ISTR there was a stock market crash in 1893 or so, which was
around the time the painting was made.)
Around the time that Haberle painted this, a counterfeiter was
known to be passing hand-drawn $50 bills in the New York area,
and, unlike Boggs, not telling the victims that the bills were fake.
He wasn't identified and caught until 1896, which was after the
painting was finished. He turned out not to be a New Haven
artist, but rather, a New Jersey farmer, Emanuel Ninger, dubbed
"Jim the Penman" by the press.
You can see the painting at this URL, but it's too small for you
to be able to read the fine print in the newspaper clipping:
http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/magic/saloon/trompe/harnett.html
(The painting is at the bottom of the page.)
--
Bruce Tindall :: tin...@panix.com