Garden Setting 1935 - 1942

Perkins Harnly created this whimsical “Garden Setting” using gouache on paper, sometime in the mid-20th century. Gouache is a type of paint that, unlike transparent watercolors, is opaque. Harnly built up this image with careful layering, creating a matte surface that mutes the colors and gives the entire scene a dreamlike quality. Note how the paint's opacity allows the artist to build up layers of detail, capturing the textures of the wrought iron and foliage. The artist had a long career as a painter and stage designer, and here, we see how his sensitivity to the materials shapes the final artwork. Harnly’s artistic choices deliberately blur boundaries between art and design, demonstrating how craft techniques can enrich fine art, and how we shouldn't separate the making of the artwork from its broader social and cultural context.