During my recent trip to California for the ALA 2008 conference, I visited several of the museums in San Diego’s Balboa Park. One of my favorite paintings I saw that day was at the Timken Museum of Art – it was a work by John Frederick Peto, an American tromp l’oeil painter. Titled “In the Library”, the painting depicts a sad and sorry collection of ragged books. In fact, many of Peto’s paintings depict groups of abused tomes sorely in need of a conservator’s loving touch. He is also fond of depicting paper ephemera and photographs mercilessly given the “bulletin board” treatment.
John Frederick Peto, "Take Your Choice"
