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Jefferson David Chalfant (November 6, 1856 – February 3, 1931) was an American painter who is remembered mostly for his ''trompe-l'œil'' still life paintings.
A 2022 exhibition at the MET draws comparisons between the work of Chalfant, Harnet (as well as European ''trompe-l'œil'' painters such as Samuel Dirksz van Hoogstraten, Samuel van Hoogstraten, Cornelis Norbertus Gijsbrechts, Cornelius Norbertus Gijsbrechts, Jean-Étienne Liotard, Jean Etienne Liotard, and Luis Egidio Meléndez, Luis Meléndez) and the work of Georges Braque, Juan Gris, and Pablo Picasso. One example is Chalafant's ''Which is Which'', a highly realistic oil painting of a postage stamp with collage elements including an actual postage stamp and a fictitious printed newspaper clipping, hints at Cubism as well as foreshadowing the use of "faux collage" and fake news.
American paintings & historical prints from the Middendorf collection
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Chalfant (no. 48–49)
Jefferson D. Chalfant holdings
The Metropolitan Museum of Art {{DEFAULTSORT:Chalfant, Jefferson David 1856 births 1931 deaths 19th-century American painters 20th-century American painters Académie Julian alumni American male painters American still life painters Trompe-l'œil artists Artists from Wilmington, Delaware Painters from Delaware Painters from Pennsylvania People from Chester County, Pennsylvania 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American male artists
Biography
Chalfant was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, but moved in young adulthood to Wilmington, Delaware, Wilmington, Delaware, where he would spend the rest of his life. Employed by a commercial firm as a painter of parlor car interiors, he began his activity as a fine artist in the early 1880s. Although he had no formal training, he quickly developed a fine technique. His early works are mostly still-life and landscape paintings, which sold well to private collectors. Chalfant exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the National Academy of Design, and elsewhere. In 1890, he was able to travel to Paris for two years, where he studied figure painting under Adolphe-William Bouguereau and Jules Joseph Lefebvre. This served him well during a career in which he painted Genre works, genre, portraits and other subjects. His signal achievement may be his still lifes. His still lifes are painted in the illusionistic ''trompe-l'œil'' (literally, "fool the eye") manner popularized in the late nineteenth century by William Michael Harnett. Harnett inspired many followers, the best known being John F. Peto, but few, if any, had Chalfant's technical finesse. Often, Chalfant's compositions closely follow prototypes by Harnett, but Chalfant usually simplifies, eliminating secondary objects and details. An example is his ''Violin and Bow'' (1889) in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET). Although he was only slightly younger than Harnett and Peto, he outlived both of them by many years, and continued painting until 1927, when he had a stroke. He died in Wilmington in 1931.
A 2022 exhibition at the MET draws comparisons between the work of Chalfant, Harnet (as well as European ''trompe-l'œil'' painters such as Samuel Dirksz van Hoogstraten, Samuel van Hoogstraten, Cornelis Norbertus Gijsbrechts, Cornelius Norbertus Gijsbrechts, Jean-Étienne Liotard, Jean Etienne Liotard, and Luis Egidio Meléndez, Luis Meléndez) and the work of Georges Braque, Juan Gris, and Pablo Picasso. One example is Chalafant's ''Which is Which'', a highly realistic oil painting of a postage stamp with collage elements including an actual postage stamp and a fictitious printed newspaper clipping, hints at Cubism as well as foreshadowing the use of "faux collage" and fake news.
Bibliography
*Frankenstein, Alfred (1970). ''The Reality of Appearance''. Greenwich: New York Graphic Society. *Wilmerding, John (1983). ''Important Information Inside''. New York: Harper & Row.References
External links
American paintings & historical prints from the Middendorf collection
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Chalfant (no. 48–49)
Jefferson D. Chalfant holdings
The Metropolitan Museum of Art {{DEFAULTSORT:Chalfant, Jefferson David 1856 births 1931 deaths 19th-century American painters 20th-century American painters Académie Julian alumni American male painters American still life painters Trompe-l'œil artists Artists from Wilmington, Delaware Painters from Delaware Painters from Pennsylvania People from Chester County, Pennsylvania 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American male artists