Ad Hoc

Welcome to Ad Hoc, our popular feature on the art of advertising. We are proud to welcome Dr. Richard Zakia as the author of this page each month. Richard D. Zakia is Professor Emeritus, Rochester Institute of Technology and author/coauthor of several books on photography, perception, semiotics and advertising. (Photo by Vicki H. Wilson).

This dreamy ad for Selig "Dream Pieces" is a take-off of a painting by:

A) Henri Rousseau

B) Grandma Moses

C) Marc Chagall

Answer: The picture in the ad references Henri Rousseau's famous painting "The Sleeping Gypsy", 1897. It can be seen at the Museum of Modern Art, NYC. Rousseau had no formal training as a painter and earned a living by working as a tax collector at the Paris tollgates. He was ridiculed during his life as being a talented naive painter.

Rousseau's self portrait, 1890, is at the National Museum, Prague.

c. Corinne Whitaker 2010

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