Strawberries

Luscious ripe fruit spills from an overturned basket in William J. McCloskey’s still life painting Strawberries. The random arrangement of the life-size berries, their intact stems, and the rustic simplicity of the paper-lined container set a suggestion of the rural outdoors against the sophisticated setting of a polished wood tabletop and a busy floral tapestry or wallpaper backdrop. Textural contrast arises in McCloskey’s evocation of the crispness of the thin paper, the soft roundness of the almost overripe individual berries, and the hard surface on which they lie scattered. Although the immediate subject of the image is inanimate, the scene subtly implies a series of prior and future events, from the gathering, packing, and transportation of the fruit to their accidental spilling on a table in anticipation of pleasurable consumption. Nonetheless, McCloskey approaches his modest subject with an air of scientific detachment, suggesting his debt to Thomas Eakins, his distinguished teacher at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and a master of dispassionate observation in the rendering of subjects from ordinary life. In this respect, McCloskey’s Strawberries departs from the moral overtones of an otherwise similar image: Robert Spear Dunning’s, Harvest of Cherries, (TF 1999.48) also in the Terra Foundation collection.

Round fruit emerging from crinkled paper wrapping is McCloskey’s most characteristic subject. A native of Philadelphia, a city with a distinguished tradition of still life painting, the artist began creating such works in the early 1880s, just as the highly illusionistic portrayal of inanimate objects was enjoying a resurgence. Strawberries may well be one of two paintings of the same subject McCloskey exhibited at the prestigious National Academy of Design in 1890 during his five-year residence in New York City. Working side-by-side with his talented wife, Alberta Binford McCloskey (1855–1911), the artist perfected his technique and developed his distinctive still-life subjects while also painting portraits and scenes of everyday life.

Brooklyn's Bounty: Natural Splendor and Domestic Opulence, Museum of the Borough of Brooklyn at Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, New York, April 16–May 16, 1985.

Nineteenth Century Genre Painting from The Daniel J. Terra Collection, Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois, November 15, 1985–January 12, 1986.

A Proud Heritage: Two Centuries of American Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 21–June 21, 1987. [exh. cat.]

Selections from the Permanent Collection: Life in 19th Century America, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, June 24–September 6, 1987.

Art What Thou Eat: Images of Food in American Art, The Edith Blum Art Institute, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, September 2-November 18, 1990; The New York Historical Society, New York, New York, December 18, 1990–March 22, 1991. [exh. cat.]

Visions of a Nation: Exploring Identity through American Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, August 10, 1996–January 12, 1997.

Selected Works from the Collections: Two Hundred Years of American Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 12–August 27, 1997.

Figures and Forms: Selections from the Terra Foundation for the Arts, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, May 9–July 9, 2000.

On Process: Studio Themes, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, January 13–March 4, 2001.

Manifest Destiny, Manifest Responsibility: Environmentalism and the Art of the American Landscape. Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois and Loyola University Museum of Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizers). Venue: Loyola University Museum of Art, May 17–August 10, 2008. [exh. cat.]

American Paintings III. New York: Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., 1985. Text p. 47; ill. p. 47 (color).

Atkinson, D. Scott et al. A Proud Heritage: Two Centuries of American Art. Edited by Terry A. Neff. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1987. Pl. T-129, p. 238 (color).

Gustafson, Donna et al. Art What Thou Eat: Images of Food in American Art. (exh. cat., The Edith Blum Art Institute). New York: The Edith Blum Art Institute, Annandale-on-Hudson, 1990. Text p. 82; ill. p. 80 (color).

Southgate, M. Therese. "The Cover." The Journal of the American Medical Association 265:21 (June 5, 1991): 2764. Text p. 2764; ill. cover (color).

Brownlee, Peter John. Manifest Destiny / Manifest Responsibility: Environmentalism and the Art of the American Landscape. (exh. cat., Loyola University Museum of Art, Chicago, Illinois). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for American Art and Loyola University Museum of Art, 2008. Text p. 37 (checklist).

Southgate, M. Therese. The Art of JAMA III: Covers and Essays from the Journal of the American Medical Association. Chicago, Illinois: American Medical Association, 2011. Text p42; ill. opposite p. 42 (color).