Folded Silhouettes, ¹⁄₅ Series

Margie Jervis, Susie Krasnican, Folded Silhouettes, 1/5 Series, 1983, fused plate glass with fired enamels, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Elmerina and Paul Parkman, 2000.106.7

Margie Jervis, Susie Krasnican, Folded Silhouettes, 1/5 Series, 1983, fused plate glass with fired enamels, 11 ¹⁄₄ x 8 ¹⁄₈ x 7 ⁷⁄₈ in. (28.6 x 20.6 x 20.0 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Elmerina and Paul Parkman, 2000.106.7

Artwork Details

Title: Folded Silhouettes, ¹⁄₅ Series
Artists: Margie Jervis
Susie Krasnican
Date: 1983
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum
/
Luce Foundation Center
/
4th Floor
/
53A
Dimensions: 11 ¹⁄₄ x 8 ¹⁄₈ x 7 ⁷⁄₈ in. (28.6 x 20.6 x 20.0 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Elmerina and Paul Parkman
Mediums: glass
enamel
Mediums Description: fused plate glass with fired enamels
Classifications: Decorative Arts
Glass
Object Number: 2000.106.7
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2000.106.7

Artwork Description

In Folded Silhouettes, 1/5 Series, Margie Jervis and Susie Krasnican created an image of two vessels without making traditional vase or bowl forms. They used glass cut-out silhouettes of flat vase shapes and propped them up with another piece of glass perpendicular behind each one. The purple "shadow" of the yellow and pink vase silhouette is painted on the gray vase shape behind it so that their order of placement can never be altered. This creates a trompe l’oeil (trick of the eye) effect: at a certain angle, the piece appears to be two three-dimensional vessels.