John F. Peto  (27 min)   
John James Audubon  (28 min)

John Frederick Peto (1854 – 1907) is best known for still-life painting in the extreme style known as “trompe l’oeil” (“trick the eye”), where the artist attempts such realism that the viewer is fooled.  He was a friend of William Harnett (1848 - 92), the most successful of American trompe l’oeil artists.  In fact, Peto sometimes signed Harnett’s name to make his paintings more valuable.  There are still paintings whose authorship is undecided.

John James Audubon (1785 – 1851) is considered the finest artist-naturalist in American art.  He was born in Haiti, but his fame rests on the series of engravings, The Birds of America, based on his life-size paintings.  He studied the habits of the birds, shot them, and wired them into amazingly life-like positions.  He generally had assistants who added the limbs and foliage to the works.

Join art and music enthusiast Jack Brin for a series of presentations on art and artists at Prosser Public Library in on selected Tuesdays at 1:00 PM.   Each film screening will be followed by conversation about the particular artist or time period. Registration is appreciated.