Bell Jar c. 1939

Nicholas Zupa made this lovely, slightly surreal painting of a Bell Jar, but when? The entire thing shimmers, doesn't it? Like a mirage, conjured up from some other time. I can imagine Zupa carefully building up the layers of watercolour, one wash at a time, to create this kind of otherworldly effect. I'm wondering about Zupa, and what he thought about while making this. Did he approach the painting like an act of preservation, hoping to suspend the flowers and fruit in a bubble of time? Or maybe he wanted to capture an idea of nature, one step removed from reality. It reminds me a bit of Joseph Cornell's shadow boxes, which are also about capturing a moment, or a feeling, and holding onto it. I think of all these artists, reaching across time, whispering to each other.