How could this IMPOSSIBLE painting have been made?

Police sketch

A Police Sketch is a rendering by a sighted person, of something they saw and described to the police artist.

That could not have been done, in this case.

Also, the painting itself would contradict the claim that the Pooka is invisible.

I love that movie.

Is that photo a frame from the film, or something separate?
As I’m starting to remember the movie, I’m thinking that Harvey wasn’t shown at all, but I may be wrong. If Harvey was shown there isn’t much of an issue, but otherwise, it is impossible.

edit: Unless Elwood P. Dowd was the artist!
or it’s only an artist’s representation, based on the descriptions Dowd gives, and the artist’s own imagination.

The only time he was shown, was in the painting.

Where do I submit my vote for “most confusing question ever”?

I think in this case, you have to say that since it is a movie, anything is possible, and not everything has a legitimate reason.

Killjoy…

Couldn’t Pooka just have described what he looked like and what he was wearing?
A 7 foot white rabbit with a bow tie and belt can’t be that hard to draw.

How do you think he made the bow tie and belt invisible?

Haha, sorry to ruin your fun.

A more inventive answer! He, himself painted the rabbit, then hired a professional painter to paint himself. Perhaps a closer look at the work would reveal a difference in style between the two figures shown?

OR

The painter is a psychic who reads Elwood’s mind to discover how he perceives Harvey.

Let’s establish some facts, here, to solve this puzzle:

1. Harvey is visible ONLY to Elwood P. Dowd

2. Pookas cannot be seen by artists or others.

3. An artist can paint based on descriptions, but the Pooka talks ONLY to Elwood P. Dowd, so he cannot describe himself to the artist.

4. If Elwood P. Dowd is seated while the painting is being done, then he cannot describe Harvey to the artist, because he would have to keep leaving his seat to walk over to the easel and say things like, “You need to make the ears longer,” etc.

5. Pookas do not want everyone to know what they look like, which is why they are invisible in the first place, so they wouldn’t want their image painted so everyone could see them and know what they really look like.

I’m liking the theory that Elwood is the painter of the portrait.

JA, you are aware that Harvey is a work of fiction, right?

I’m seconding (thirding?) the self portrait idea.

All the artist did was paint Dowd’s body and sign his name.

I can just hear him painting away, “Yes, this is coming along nicely, don’t you think? Now I believe we just need to find an artist to help us finish. This fellow here might do, wouldn’t you say?”

Perhaps Harvey himself is handy with the oil paints and his likeness is only visible to Elwood.

Oh, yeah. I keep forgetting.
Fiction.

Okay, then Harvey is full of shit and/or deluded and and both he and the artist just goes along with the artist’s representation. Is there a word for a lie that is implicitly agreed upon by two (or more) people?

@kevbo – are you saying that Harvey killed Jimmy Hoffa?

I definitely did not utter that phrase.

AstroChuck, you have mentioned twice that Harvey is fictional. So? Does that fact automatically prohibit intelligent discussion about the character? Are we not able to discuss Superman’s allergy to Kryptonite or Lois Lane’s inability to figure out who he really is, just because those characters don’t really exist? If that is your contention then I respectfully disagree, because I feel that any subject can be both broached and bantered, as long as it is done with regards to Fluther guidelines. And as far as I can tell, no such guideline forbids discussion about hypothetical situations, nor fictional characters. But, feel free to have this entire question (and all of the subsequent answers) deleted by the Moderators, if you believe that the posting of it is somehow in violation of some rule of which I was unaware.

I don’t believe that the painting was done by either Elwood P. Dowd, nor by his Pooka friend, because even though I don’t (yet) own a DVD copy of this classic movie, I recall (if my memory hasn’t failed me) that the portrait was delivered to the Dowd residence, and it was seen by both his sister, Veta Louise Simmons and her daughter, Myrtle Mae Simmons who commented on it. So, the painting is as visible to the characters in the play, as it is to those of us viewing the photograph I referenced in the details section of the question.

So, if the artist who painted the portrait is some unnamed (and never seen) person, then how was s/he able to make a rendering of a creature that can only be seen by Elwood P. Dowd?

That’s the question I’ve posed, and I’m still awaiting an explanation, assuming there is one.

Most rabbits are fairly similar. It wouldn’t take much for Elwood to describe Harvey as a bipedal white rabbit with a stylish belt and bow tie. As long as Elwood was there to describe the length of the ears and the subtle nuances around the mouth, eyes and nose, it wouldn’t be too difficult for a talented artist to produce a painting of the invisible rabbit for its owner/creator.

While I agree with what you are saying, I just have a problem comprehending the logistics of that.

Are we to assume that Elwood P. Dowd sat while his likeness was painted onto the canvas, then he got up, walked behind the artist and looked over his/her shoulder, as s/he added the image of the rabbit, while Elwood P. Dowd was accurately describing the Pooka?

The reason I ask, is because most of the portrait artists whom I know personally (not a large number) are very tempermental folks, and all would object to someone standing behind them, looking over their shoulder, and telling them how to do their job.

So, should we maybe assume that the artist just painted what he thought a Pooka might look like, and after that was done, Elwood P. Dowd supposedly looked at the finished product and said something like, “Close enough for jazz.”?

Yes, that is exactly what we are to assume. While the painter got the basic form of a rabbit up on the canvas Elwood took a break and hung around with the Pooka, maybe ate lunch or had tea. Once that was done, Elwood stood next to the artist – note I said next to him/her, not behind – and described the finer points that make his dear imaginary friend uniquely “Harvey.”

A painter of portraits has to make a living in what can only be assumed to be a niche’ market. There are not a huge number of folks out there with the time and money to commission an original portrait. Therefore this artist was probably following the buck in order to make ends meet, if that meant dealing with an eccentric, yet kind gentleman hovering while he worked – so be it.

My question has now been answered to my complete satisfaction, and I thank all of you who participated in the discussion of it.

I am a better person, for having read your words.

Well, SuperMouse took the words right out of my mouth.

Now can we get back to the global economic melt down , the unjust war in Iraq, and the pivotal election we are facing?

(LOL)

For starters, but I have just thunk up another of my famous questions…

Look for it.

Don’t you mean imfamous questions?

I stand corrected.

In my orthopedic shoes.

Have none of you seen the movie??? Harvey is real, and he can appear to anyone he chooses. At the end of the movie the head psychiatrist can both see and hear harvey, and Mr. Dowd’s sister admits to having seen Harvey. All it would take for the artist to paint harvey is for harvey to decide to show himself to the artist.

Thank you, young_gun! Holy crap, you’re all rewriting or ignoring a basic fact about Harvey. He chooses who sees him, and he chooses the form they see him in even if he didn’t how hard is it to imagine a six foot bunny? As long as the artist was paid why should he even care? He’s creative enough just being an artist. It wouldn’t be that big a deal.

That’s my favorite movie of all time.

I’ve never seen it. I was going with JA’s guidelines to answer the question.

“5. Pookas do not want everyone to know what they look like, which is why they are invisible in the first place, so they wouldn’t want their image painted so everyone could see them and know what they really look like.”

This indicated that Harvey wouldn’t want his portrait painted, and therefore wouldn’t have revealed himself to the artist.

I should watch this movie.

But he doesn’t necessarily have to look like the portrait as he can change his appearence. Hence, everybody doesn’t have to know what he looks like.

@Shadling: You should. But whatever you do for the love of God, do NOT get the Bill Murray version.
That movie is a cinematic abortion.

Get the tasty Jimmy Stewart one.

Bill Murray made a version of Harvey?

WTF, I coulda sworn it existed. One sec. ::furious googling:
I have seemingly made up a fact in my head, I think I must have seen something as a kid and just stored it away wrong. My brother always told me it was Bill Murray when I asked him what it was… Ignore that post. Either way. Jimmy Stewart FTW.

I don’t wanna talk about it.

Maybe this is Bill Murray’s Harvey?

@Fireside: Very funny. You suck. :D

John Travolta will be in the new remake of Harvey. I believe it’s still in the early planning stage. I guess you could say it’s in the pre-preproduction stage..

If you’re making another one of your little jokes, Chuck… so help me god.

Swear on your mom’s life. Also, there was a television remake ten years ago where Harry Anderson played the Jimmy Stewart role (Elwood P. Dowd). You might have been thinking of that.

I think I’m going to cry

Jim Carrey as Walter Mitty though… I kinda like it. But Danny Kaye was and always will be the master.

willow willow waley and a nanny nanny noo

Oh no.
I wonder if the Harvey remake will have overtones of Scientology.

Maybe Harvey is really an alien?

DUN DUN DUN!

that’ll be the twist for sure.

If only Harvey had opposable thumbs… he could have painted it. Or it could have been another pooka that only Harvey could see that had tumbs and piant and mad skills and such.

There is a point in the movie where Veta says “-the photograph shows only the reality. The painting shows not only the reality but the dream behind it.” Also Harvey has the ability to show himself to those whom he desires. And if I’m not mistaken there is a theme in the movie that those who are willing to see outside of reality have a better chance of seeing Harvey.