Paradise Lost
Date1999
Artist
William Smith
American painter, 21st century
MediumOil on book page
Dimensions10 × 8 × 3 1/2 in. (25.4 × 20.3 × 8.9 cm)
Credit LineF. V. du Pont Acquisition Fund, 2000
Object number2000-14
On View
Not on viewClassificationsBOOK
Label TextThe mysteriously poetic landscapes of William Smith are layered with meanings and allusions. The landscape images, often overlaid on the written text of book pages, are created to elicit a particular mood or association in the viewer. The works, which combine pictoral and literary references, are intuitively created from Smith's visual impressions of a place. Paradise Lost incorporates an actual copy of John Milton's tale of loss and redemption. Smith bored a hole through book's pages, except for the front and back covers. Upon the inside back cover he painted a three-inch abstract waterway. The tiny painting, visible through the hole, appears as a melancholy dreamscape flowing just beyond the reaches of reality.
