Tiger House Jungle

Object NameReverse Painting

Maker Judy Bally Jensen (American, b. 1953)

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

Date1986

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

Title Unknown (Susan Cummins Gallery)

Glass America '87

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.

Place Made

United States, TX, Austin

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

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