Still Life

  
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 Still Life: A History
In fine art, the term 'still life' denotes a specific
genre of painting, typically comprising an
arrangement of objects (traditionally flowers or
kitchen utensils, but almost any household
object may be included) laid out on a table. The
term is a direct translation of the Dutch word
'Stilleven', which was used from 1656 to
describe paintings previously called simply 'Fruit'
or 'Flower Pieces', or 'Ontbijt' (Breakfast Piece),
Bancket (banquet) or Pronkstilleven pieces (from
the Dutch word 'pronk' meaning ostentation), or
if with religious overtones - Vanitas.
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The Silver Tureen
c. 1728
Oil on canvas
30 x 42 1/2 in. (76.2 x 108
cm)
Still-life painting was much practised in the ancient world, but
thereafter declined and did not re-emerge in the history of art as an
independent genre until the 16th century. As the origin of the name
suggests, still-life was particularly favoured in the North of Europe,
especially in Holland and Flanders, among painters of the late
Northern Renaissance. This was partly due to the effects of the
North European Reformation which led to a decline in religious
painting among Protestant nations. Even so, there were significant
schools of still-life art in Italy (especially Naples) and Spain, and to a
lesser extent France, although Chardin was arguably the greatest
still-life painter of the 18th century and Paul Cezanne of the 19th
century. Contemporary still lifes may include a limitless range of
contemporary objects, from urinals to beer cans.
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The Meat Day Meal
|




 


1731
(1890-1894)
Oil on canvas
13 x 16 1/4" (33 x 41 cm)
Andy Warhol
Campbell¶s
Soup Cans
1962
Silkscreen

Gerhard Richter
Toilet Paper
1965
60 cm X 60 cm
Oil on canvas
  


To beginners, pictures of still life may seem quite boring, when
compared with action-packed history painting, evocative landscapes
or emotional portraits. However, some of the greatest still lifes
contain complex messages (narrative) encapsulated in the type of
objects displayed and how they are arranged. Thus when studying a
still-life composition, be aware that the items displayed may be
symbols, infusing the picture with symbolic significance. As a result,
although, like landscape, still life painting does not usually contain
human forms, it is as capable of presenting a political, moral or
spiritual message, as the most complex examples of history
painting. This conflicted with the 'official line' adhered to by
advocates of academic art, that ranked still-life art as the lowest of
the five genres, after: history, portraiture, genre-painting and
landscape.
Steenwijck, Harmen
Vanitas Still-life
c. 1640
Oil on panel, 39 x 51 cm
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â In very simple terms, still life may be classified into four groups:
â (1) flower pieces,
â (2) breakfast or banquet pieces,
â (3) animal pieces. Many of these works are executed purely to demonstrate
the technical virtuosity and drawing ability of the artist. Alternatively, they
may be painted to convey a particular view of art (as in the case of Paul
Cezanne's pre-Cubist still lifes) or to demonstrate artistic emotion (as in Van
Gogh's 'yellow' sunflower studies). But sometimes, as stated above, an
artist may have a more complex message in mind.
â (4) Hence the fourth group - Symbolic Still Lifes - is a wider category that
denotes any type of still life with an overt symbolic narrative, usually
religious or quasi-religious in nature. A specific example of such symbolism
is the type known as 

paintings which contain symbolic images (eg.
skulls, snuffed candles, hourglasses with the sand running out, watches,
butterflies etc.,) to remind the viewer of the transience and triviality of mortal
life. However, the symbolic imagery may be more overtly religious,
comprising bread in some form, wine, water and other obscure references
to the Eucharist, the Passion, The Holy Trinity or the Saints.
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Still-life art was not uncommon in the ancient world.
Murals with still-life compositions have been discovered
in numerous Egyptian tombs (presumably the foodstuffs
displayed were intended to be used by the deceased in
the Afterlife), and in Roman homes excavated at
Herculaneum and Pompeii. See for example the
'Transparent bowl of fruit and vases' (c.70 CE) by an
unknown artist, found in Pompeii). In addition, still-life
artistry is actually referred to in the ancient Greek legend
of Zeuxis and Parrhasius. However, during the medieval
era following the fall of Rome (c.350) still-life painting
disappeared completely. It reappeared in the early
Renaissance, but merely as background for religious
paintings, or as items in Jan Van Eyck's interiors, rather
than a genre in its own right.
Greek and Roman ancient still life
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The earliest recorded still-life paintings were Hare
(1502) by the German painter # $ % , and
Dead Bird (1504) by the Venetian-trained artist

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, who worked at courts in
Germany and Holland. But the undisputed master of
Baroque still-life was the Antwerp artist 
 
   , with such masterpieces as Pantry Scene
with a Page (c.1617), The Pantry (c.1620), and A
Game Stall (c.1625). Snyders work was developed by
several Dutch Realist painters of the Utrecht and Delft
schools who polished the genre still further. The
earliest dated pure flower piece was executed in 1562
by the German Ludger h'.
 
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Albrecht Durer ( ) 
 

Hare 1502 *+,
49 × 42 cm
Frans Snyders, The Pantry (ca 1620, Oil on canvas, 170 x 290 cm)
Ring D. J. Ludger
1562

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1562
Oil on oakwood, 63,4 x 24,6 cm
(each)
The fact that all these developments occurred in Flanders, Holland and
Germany was no coincidence. As a result of the Reformation - the
Protestant revolt against the Church of Rome (c.1517) - religious painting
suffered a serious decline in Northern Europe, thus facilitating the re-
emergence of the still-life genre (Stilleven). The popularity of oil painting on
canvas in these countries - which permitted greater re-working of a picture
and thus finer detail - also helped to develop the genre. Narrative messages
were also introduced into still-life, through the use of religious or quasi-
religious symbolism, which further widened its appeal. One particular form
of symbolic still-life (called vanitas) comprised arrangements of symbolic
objects designed to remind the viewer of the pitiful transience of life on
earth. Still-life in general and vanitas pieces in particular, strongly appealed
to the puritanical Dutch middle class, and their growing patronage led to an
upsurge in Stilleven which then spread to Spain and France. Other
examples of still-life by famous artists of Holland include: The Vanities of
Human Life (1645) by 
  ) $-; A Vanitas Still Life (1645) by
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; Still Life with Lobster, Drinking Horn and Glasses (c.1653)
by . /
; The Slippers (1654) by 
  
 ; Still Life of
Fruit (1670) by %
,  ; Flowers and Insects (1711) by '
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Pieter Claesz, |

 Jan de Heem,  



(between 1625-30) (between 1635 and 1684)
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Still life remained unpopular with most Italian artists, and rarely appeared in Italian
fine art painting, independently of a subject, except for the Small Basket of Fruit by
Caravaggio; although there were exceptions. These included the Fruit, Flower and
Fish pieces of the Neopolitan School in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (eg.
by Recco and Ruoppolo) and the Musical Instruments painted by Baschenis.
â In Spain, the genre was more popular, and painters like 
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 invested the simplest still-life with drama. Examples of Spanish
works included: Still Life with Lemons, Orange and a Rose (1633) by Zurbaran and
Still Life with Game Fowl (c.1602) by Juan Sanchez Cotan. Other Stilleven artists
included Sanchez and Melendez. The Spanish dramatic element culuminated a
century later in Francisco Goya's still-lifes Calf's Head and Plucked Turkey.
â In France, perhaps due to the conservative influence of the Parisian Academie des
Beaux-Arts, still-life painting took longer to develop than in its northern neighbours. It
wasn't until the 17th and 18th centuries as French aristocrats began to commission
opulent and trompe l'oeil still life subjects that virtuoso examples of the genre
appeared in the paintings of Moillon, Stoskopff, Oudry, and especially Jean-Simeon
Chardin, although he eschewed 'objets de luxe' in favour of kitchen utensils and
simple arrangements of food and drink. Chardin's exquisite small-scale paintings - eg.
Still Life with Bottle of Olives (1760), and Rabbit, Thrush, Straw (1755) - are so 'real'
you want to touch them. The wealthy French Romantic-Realist Theodore Gericault
also produced several unusual works of this genre, such as Anatomical Pieces
(1818).
Juan Sánchez Cotán ƒ$ È
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â During the 19th century, Academic painting declined along with the
influence of the academies themselves and their hierarchy of
genres. As a result, landscape and still life flourished.  

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 became renowned for his still-lifes of
flowers such as, White and Pink Roses (1890), as well as other
compositions such as, Still Life with Vase of Hawthorn, Bowl of
Cherries, Japanese Bowl, and Cup and Saucer (c.1880). The
Impressionists explored the colourist effects of flower compositions
while Paul Cezanne gave both his still-lifes and landscapes an
unprecedented monumentality from which Cubism is largly derived.
Cezanne's masterpieces include: Pears on a Chair (1882), Still Life
with Basket (1890), and Still Life with Plaster Cupid (1895). The
Dutch Post-Impressionist artist Vincent Van Gogh excited everyone
with his use of rich yellows in his famous Sunflower paintings. In the
United States, Well beyond the cramping influence of the European
Academies, American artists painted still life throughout the
nineteenth century. Leaders in the genre included the Philadelphian
Raphaelle Peale (1774-1825).
Cézanne, v 

(1888-1890)
Van Gogh, h|


(1888)
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â The Fauvists further developed the colourist approach to the genre - as in Henri
Matisse's Still Life with Geraniums (1910) - while artists like Emil Nolde, a member of
Die Brucke the pivotal German Expressionist group produced individualistic works
such as Still Life with Dancers (1914), and Red Poppies (1920). Meanwhile, Cubism
was busy extending Cezanne's geometric assemblies in a series of multi-surfaced
Cubist paintings such as: Violin and Candlestick (1910) by Georges Braque, Still Life
with Chair Caning (1912) by Picasso, and Still Life with Fruit Dish and Mandolin
(1919) by Juan Gris. Indeed, Georges Braque continued his efforts for decades, with
works like Studio V (1949). The genre was also developed later by the reclusive
Italian artist Giorgio Morandi, who became renowned for his still-lifes of simple
objects (eg. bottles) of great almost poetic delicacy.
â In the United States at the beginning of the 20th century, still life painters like William
Harnett and John Peto became known for their trompe l'oeil arrangements of objects
and collages of newspaper cuttings. The genre was then explored by widely differing
artists such as the Kandinsky and Jawlensky-inspired Expressionist Marsden Hartley
(1877-1943), the Cubist Stuart Davis (1894-1964) and the exotic image-creator
Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986). In the most recent art, still life has figured in
Surrealism and Pop Art - example: Roy Lichtenstein's 1972 painting, Still Like with
Goldfish Bowl (oil and magna on canvas).
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  Pablo Picasso, |




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(c.1910-1912)

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, 1918. Oil on canvas 
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, 1913, oil collage
on canvas
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Still Life with bowl and Fruit
Paris, winter 1912
Charcoal, black chalk, watercolor, oil paint, coarse
charcoal or black pigment in binding medium, on newspaper
(Le Journal, 6 and 9 December 1912), blue and white laid
charcoal papers, supported by thin cardboard
64 x 49.5 cm


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Fruit Dish, Ace of Clubs
[Paris, early 1913]
Oil, gouache, and charcoal on canvas
31 7/8 x 23 5/8 in. (81 x 60 cm.)
Violin and Candlestick
Paris, [spring 1910]
Oil on canvas
24 x 19 3/4 in. (61 x 50 cm.)
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painting is deeply rooted in art history, its iconography, its myths and clichés.   
    
 
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 quotes them, parodies them, and reinvents the works
of old and modern masters as well as unknown artists of the past, by loading them with the conceptual ideas of
modern and contemporary art, literature, film and music and transforming them
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, First shown at the exhibition Documenta 11 in Kassel, Germany in 2002, the idea of banality becomes
larger than life. In fact it is taken to an impossible extreme, becoming an icon, an almost purely cerebral painting,
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more like a light projection. 2002
After the events of 9/11, it became clear to Tuymans that the images introduced into the world at that moment
Oil on canvas (347 x 500)
were fantastically precise. The attacks were also an assault on aesthetics. His response was to create a sort of
anti-picture, with an idyll, albeit an inherently twisted one. ý$ )  )

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Still Life with Crystal Bowl
1973
Magna on canvas
52 x 42 in
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Still Life with Goldfish Bowl
and Painting of a Golf Ball
1972
Oil and Magna on canvas
52 x 42 in
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Jelutong, Maple bracing, 2003-2004
108 x 184 x 118 cm
eX de Medici - h ! (2005)
watercolour and metallic pigment on paper





Jelutong, 2005
102 x 102 x 20 cm
Morandi, etching on copper, 1956.
Giorgio Morandi |

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etching on copper, 1946, 327 x 259
mm.