© Ulf Greder 2014

PAINTINGS BY ULF GREDER

Chantourné (from French chantourner, to cut out with a fretsaw) is a term used for pictures cut out along the outline of an object or human figure and then painted illusionistically.

These trompe-l’oeil paintings were popular in the 1600s. Mundane objects painted this way and placed  in domestic situations to create visual jokes like foodstuffs in a pantry.

There is a a fine picture of an easel by Cornelius Gijsbrechts in Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen.

Chantourné  liberated Ulf Greder’s paintings from the rectangular. The cutting out also gave the paintings a third dimension.

These paintings are painted on thin Finnish plywood reinforced by epoxy. The picture is painted before cutting out. The smallest mistake with the fretsaw would ruin the picture. Finally the picture is straddled to prevent warping.