Tiger House Jungle

Object NameReverse Painting

Maker Judy Bally Jensen (American, b. 1953)

Made FromSheet Glass, Pencil, Paint, Enamel, Glitter, Wood

Date1986

Place MadeUnited States, TX, Austin

TechniqueAcid-etched, penciled, painted, cut, laminated, reverse-painted

SizeOverall H: 78.7 cm, W: 71.5 cm, Th: 2.9 cm

Accession Number87.4.13

Curatorial Area(s)

Postwar and Contemporary

Exhibitions

Glass America '87

Title Unknown (Susan Cummins Gallery)

Not On View

Interpretive Notes

Web Text

Judy Bally Jensen works in a technique called reverse painting on glass, in which paints are applied on the back of a sheet glass. The painting is then viewed through the other side. The glass "canvas" adds lights and reflectivity to the image, and the technique is a traditional one, having been in use since medieval times. Jensen depicts a vividly colored, dreamlike scene of two figures standing in water in front of a wood house decorated with a large tiger. It is framed with classical columns and a pediment, also holding a large tiger. The lush green of the jungle plants is overpowering, and the setting is one of mystery and possible intrigue.

Physical DescriptionColorless and polychrome non-lead glasses; acid-etched, penciled, painted decoration, cut and laminated frame. Flat, irregular square, with painted top edge; top is a triangular pediment with red border, internal painted foliage surrounding oblong centered spattered red section capturing a grisaille tiger in profile; pediment "supported" by two round columns with mismatched capitals; base piece of red and black wave pattern; frame overlaps internal scene of background foliage, mid-ground brown wooden structure with pediment depicting stylized rendering of 7th c. B.C. Assyrian dying lioness, flames show through window; foreground with blue, wave patterned water in which two grisaille nudes stand, male has open mouth and face frontally, female with raised arm and turned toward male; signed and dated: "JBJ 86" 5½" up from bottom toward left edge.
Provenance

Source Heller Gallery - 1987-01-26