The E-Sylum:  Volume 7, Number 27, July 4, 2004, Article 12

FEDERAL RESERVE MONEY ART COLLECTION

  On June 20, The Wall Street Journal published an article
  about the money art collection of the U.S. Federal Reserve,
  titled,  "The Fed Boosts the Interest Rate in Art".  Here
  are a few excerpts:

  "Mary Anne Goley does not have barrels of money to spend
  on art. She does have "Barrels of Money" by Victor Dubreuil,
  an obscure American painter active in the late 1880s and 1890s.
  Call it her icon. "The decision to buy that one was easy," Ms.
  Goley says. "This genre, trompe-l'oeil currency, should be here.
  It was the second painting to enter the collection. I would like
  more!"  [The painting shows wooden barrels overflowing with
  U.S. currency of the late 1800s. -Editor]

  With just a secretary by way of support, the enterprising Ms.
  Goley directs the Fed's Fine Arts Program, building the
  institution's permanent collection and mounting three special
  exhibitions each year."

  "Her exhibit "MoneyMaking, the Fine Art of Currency at the
  Millennium" (including works composed of shredded bills) was
  so popular that a modified version toured the country as
  "$how Me the Money: The Dollar as Art."

  Doing a web search to learn more about the Fed's Victor
  Dubreuil painting illustrated in the article, I found the following
  page on the Littleton Coin Company web site: littletoncoin.com.

  Littleton's page includes an undated article noting that "Barrels
  of Money" is (or at least was) owned by the Brandywine
  Museum of Chadd's Ford, PA.  From the illustrations, the two
  paintings appear to be very similar yet different, leading me to
  believe that there are at least two "Barrels of Money" paintings
  out there.  Did the artist paint a series of them?  Would anyone
  know the location of any others?  An email query to the
  Brandywine Museum curator has not yet been answered.

  Here's is how the Brandywine museum describes the genre on
  its web site:

  "Still life painting also has strong roots in the Brandywine
  region, particularly trompe l'oeil or "fool the eye" painting
  that was popular in the late 19th century. The museum's
  collection includes examples by such painters as William
  Michael Harnett, the acknowledged leader in this type of
  painting, John F. Peto, George Cope, John Haberle and
  Alexander Pope. Many of these works were created for
  gentleman's clubs, pubs and other "masculine" interiors,
  hence the decidedly male subject matter: often hunting and
  fishing equipment, dead game, mugs and pipes."
  Stilllife

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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