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A Peaceable Kingdom


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Image of A Peaceable Kingdom

A Peaceable Kingdom
Painting

1988
72 x 72 in. (182.88 x 182.88 cm)

Paul Wonner (Tucson, Arizona, 1920 - 2008, San Francisco, California)

Object Type: Painting
Medium and Support: Acrylic on canvas
Credit Line: Museum purchase in memory of Averill Mix with funds contributed by the Lipman Family Foundation, Deborah and Andy Rappaport and members of the SJMA Board of Trustees, in honor of the San Jose Museum of Art's 35th anniversary.
Accession Number: 2004.04

Exhibition

Breaking the Rules: Paul Wonner and Theophilus Brown, April 23 – August 27, 2023, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA; October 14, 2023 – January 7, 2024, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA; January 28 – March 31, 2024, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, TN.


Real and HyperReal, January 30, 2010 - August 1, 2010, New Wing, First Floor, Gibson Family and Plaza Galleries, San José Museum of Art.

Contemporary Art from the Permanent Collection, July 30, 2007 - September 9, 2007, San José Museum of Art.

It's About Time: Celebrating 35 Years, October 3, 2004 - February 13, 2005, New Wing, Gibson Family Gallery and Plaza Gallery, First Floor, San José Museum of Art.

SJMA Label Text


Sleight of Hand: Painting and Illusion
(2014-2015)

Paul Wonner helped to revitalize still-life painting in the San Francisco Bay Area during the second half of the twentieth century. He became best known for his whimsical parodies of the crisp still-life style and detailed inventories of the seventeenth-century Dutch Masters, which simultaneously conveyed the beauty and transience of life. Here, he also paid homage to American folk artist Edward Hicks, who painted more than a hundred variations on the theme of the Peaceable Kingdom. Hicks was a Quaker minister who was drawn to the biblical references and fostered moral commentary in his “painted sermons.” This “not-so-still life” is actually a portrait of Wonner’s Victorian home in San Francisco along with a menagerie of his sociable, well-mannered pets.


New Year, New Gifts (2006-2007)

Paul Wonner is best known for his whimsical still-life paintings that parody the crisp style and material inventories of the Dutch Masters. Here, he also pays homage to American folk artist Edward Hicks, who painted more than 100 variations on the theme of the Peaceable Kingdom. A variety of flowers is strewn about the floor of Wonner's Victorian San Francisco home along with a menagerie of his sociable, well-mannered pets. The potential for motion is implicit in this "not-so-still life" as the orange tabby nuzzles the Great Dane; the gray rabbit appears ready to spring from its watchful post; and a yellow-billed toucan could easily burst into song.

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Exhibition List
This object was included in the following exhibitions:

Dimensions
  • Image Dimensions: 72 x 72 in. (182.88 x 182.88 cm)
  • Frame Dimensions: 73 1/4 x 73 1/4 x 2 1/2 in. (186.06 x 186.06 x 6.35 cm)

Bibliography List
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