Portrait of the Artist’s Son, Frederick H. Prince III (1921-1964)

Elizabeth Harding Prince Thayer Makaroff

1930

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A trompe-l'œil (French, “trick the eye”) still life painting consisting of a stretched canvas, painted around all four sides to resemble a rectangular piece of wood cut from a longer plank. The top and bottom edges have a series of lines painted with a thick impasto to resemble the radial grain of a cut board. At the center of the composition is a dark hollow recess covered with a broken pane of glass held in place by nine tack nails, which contains 14 peanuts, functioning as a makeshift peanut dispenser. Tucked behind the pane of glass at the top of the recess is a white paper card which reads “Try One. / S. NIKTA.” “S. NIKTA” is “Atkins” spelled backwards, probably the name of a friend or patron of the artist.
A black and white photograph shows branches and leaves on the right and two figures behind them on the left. The child in the front, whose face is blurred, leans his back to the child behind him.
Where the Two Came to Their Father, Maud Oakes, After a drawing by Jeff King, screenprint
Sioux, United States, graphite pencil on paper