Historical

Historical - Breakfast Items

Breakfast items, 1646 - Pierer Claesz
Oil on wood
60x84 cm

• Made by a dutch painter therefore coming from the period where the genre of still life paintings originated. The main goal of still life paintings is to create an optical illusion and make the viewers forget that the picture is an illusion of reality.
• His early works show an influence of older still life painters, but soon changed his style and limited his compositions to a small meal set near the corner of the table. This typically featured some bread or cheese on a small platter, a piece of meat on a pewter dish, a glass of beer or wine (perhaps a silvery pewter vessel), and a white crumpled tablecloth – suggesting a light breakfast or snack.
• Pieter Claesz’s still life’s prove to be very realistic due to the amazing detail in the lighting reflected on the items in the composition. The lighting serves for a tonal emphasis for the painting giving it more depth. Pieter reacted to the comprehensive forces of light and atmosphere which envelop us and the things with which we live.
• The foreground of their unpretentious arrangements is spacious, and there is clear recession. Instead of vivid local colours, monochromatic harmonies with sensitive contrasts of valeurs of low intensity are favoured, without however a loss of earlier regard for textual differentiation. From the point of view of composition, tonal, and spatial treatment, the still life’s created by Pieter Claesz are among the most satisfying Dutch paintings made during the century.
• His early work incorporates brilliant colours but as he matured as an artist, his palette was much more subtle. His compositions acquired more elegance, broadness and nonchalance than previously. Nevertheless, the objects in his still life’s rarely overlap. For Pieter Claesz, the principal aim was to render the materials and catch the reflected light as accurately as possible. This was his speciality.

Modern

Modern - Still life with silver pitcher

Still life with Silver Pitcher, 1972 - Roy Lichtenstein
Oil on canvas
51x60 inches

• Made in the Pop Art era. (1972) which explains the nature of the still life painting. the pop art movement focused on challenging the standard definitions of an artwork by including imagery from popular culture such as advertising, news etc.
• The artwork is an appropriated form of the still life genre and presents a whole new meaning, suggesting that the original standards of still life paintings have been abolished boldly stating that art is not confined by rules referring on how to correctly define an artwork into a specific genre.
• Artwork reflects a lot of the visual elements of an artwork in the Pop Art era, with a lot of vibrant colours contrasting strong black and whites. It also features strong black lines which supposably substitutes for the three dimensional aspect given by shadows and highlights – another technique used in Pop Art paintings.
• Lichtenstein's Still Lifes cover a variety of motifs and themes, including the most traditional such as fruit, flowers, and vases. During the 1970s he began to quote art-historical styles as well as his own previous works. Using his "cartoonish" method of painting, he stripped both subjects and movements of their original import and gravitas. He also mined the modern masters of painting for still life motifs, which included paintings or used alone in sculptures.
• From 1974 through to the 1980s he probed another long-standing issue: the concept of artistic style. All his series of works played with the characteristics of the well-known 20^th century art movements (such as still life). Lichtenstein continued to question the role of style in consumer culture in his 1990s series Interiors, which Included images of his own works as decorative elements. In his attempt to fully grasp and expose how the forms, materials, and methods of production have shaped the images of Western society, the artist also explored other mediums such as polychromatic ceramic, aluminium, brass, and serigraphs.

Modern

‘Glass and Bottle of Suze’, 1912, Pablo picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973), Pasted papers, gouache, and charcoal

• Pablo Picasso was a Spanish artist, painter, sculpture and draughtsman. He was born on October 25th, 1881 in Malaga, Spain.
• Picasso is one of the most recognised 20th Century artists and is best known for co-founding the Cubist movement and for his wide range of styles produced in his works.
• The Cubist movement involved artists painting images using cubes, spheres, cylinders and other geometric shapes. Artworks would often look as if they were separate images, cut up and put back together.
• This work is on a liquor bottle with a label and glass placed on a table, with an ash tray and cigarette and smoke. In this work, Picasso explores different levels of interpretation and illusion by forcing the viewer to notice the simple flat arrangement of objects cut out of paper, as well as the individual objects themselves.
• The newspaper provides an interesting background to the work as well as suggesting the popular activity of reading the paper whilst drinking and having a cigarette, as well as adding a political and social dimension to the image.

Historical

Still Life with Fruit, Glassware and a Wan-Li Bowl, 1659, Willem Kalf (Dutch, 1619-1693), Oil on Canvas

• Willem Kalf was a 17th Century Dutch painter, known for his incredible detail in his works.
• The 17th Century was a crucial time in art history as it sae the transition in the development and market of art. At this time the distinct category of still-life became officially accepted in the art world.
• This painting uses techniques of lighting, texture and colour to portray the rare craftmanship and talent Kalf used in his work.
• The glossy, transparent glassware contrats with the duller highlights that edge the rim of the platter. Willem Kalf was particularly interested in the way light and colour gleamed off reflective surfaces.
• The peeled lemon, bowl of fruit, glassware and Turkish carpet are symbols of affluence and suggest that this artwork would have been reflected of an affluent household.

Historical Artworks

Francisco de Zurbarán, Still Life with Lemons, Oranges and a Rose, 1633, oil on canvas, 60x107cm, The Norton Simon Foundation 

• The 17^th Century was an important time for still life painting as it was accepted by the French Academy of Painting and Sculpture in the 1660’s as an official genre.
• This piece was aimed at and appreciated by the religious Spanish Catholics in the 17th century, as the objects portrayed contained significant religious meaning which was popular in many still lifes at the time.
• Through the composition, the individual objects encourage deep, symbolic religious meaning as all the items are related to the Virgin Mary, and is seen as a tribute to Our Lady. 

• The citrons on the left signify faithfulness, the basket of oranges in the centre represents virginity, the orange blossoms symbolise fertility, the cup of water signifies purity and the rose is a symbol of divine love.
• The structural division of the composition into three separate units alludes to the Holy Trinity, or can be interpreted as offerings on an altar. 

Artist: Janet Fish

Title: 8 Vinegar Bottles

Date: 1972

Material: Oil on canvas

Size: 134.62cm x 183.21cm

Location: Dallas Museum of Art, USA

• Janet Fish was born in 1983 and was a contemporary American artist who specialised in still life paintings
• Her works are flourishing and textural and packed with organic brushstrokes and lusty colours
• Her paintings are very simple containing simple everyday objects, but yet are very interesting, this can be seen in this quote, "Her paintings of things can be as... beautiful objects that convey no message, that cause the mind to stop thinking and to contemplate the marvel before one's eyes."
• She uses light as her subject and loves to produce harmonious compositions that vibrate with energy and light
• Her work has been characterised as photorealist but to describe her work in terms of art history, it is a 17th century Dutch still life artwork combined with Abstract Expressionist brushwork

Modern Artwork

Picasso, Pablo Bull Skull, Fruit, and Pitcher, 1939, Oil on canvas, 65 x 92 cm, The Cleveland Museum of Art

• Bull's Skull, Fruit and Pitcher is a modern Cubist painting that has adopted the conventions of the seventeenth century vanitas still life.
• It was painted around the time of the fall of the Spanish Republic and during the rise in dictatorial governments in Europe, and this painting provided hope for the people. 
• One idea portrayed in this artwork is the opposing principles of life, which is shown through the contrasting elements present - the gloomy foreground and the bright background - providing that there is light and dark to every situation.
• Life and death are also present in this work as the skull, a representation of death, contrasts with the fruit, a symbol of nourishment and life, and the tree in full bloom which gives this otherwise depressing work hope for something better.  
• The third idea relates to the dismay Picasso felt after the fall of the Spanish Republic, which is shown through the symbol of the bull which signifies power, contrasted by the fact that the bull in this work is dead and decaying. 

Artist: Willem Kalf

Name: Still Life with Drinking Horn

Date: 1653

Material: Oil on canvas

Size: 86.4cm x 102.2cm

Location: National Gallery, London

• Willem Kalf was an important Dutch still life painter as he developed the type of still life known as 'pronkstileven' or 'pronk' for short
• 'Pronk' still life portrayed much of the prosperity of the Dutch Republic at the time based on its international trade
• In 1609, religious images were not allowed to be produced so the Dutch artists of the time only concentrated on secular objects
• If you were able to afford one of the paintings that Kalf painted, you would then use them to show off your high economic status at the time
• Kalf used the play of reflections and tinted shadows to draw the composition together in this artwork; he has chosen to make the background black so that the objects with vivid colours can stand out, for e.g. the lobster

Comparison of 'Vanitas with Violin and Glass Ball' by Pieter Claesz and 'Implement Blue' by Margaret Preston

VANITAS WITH VIOLIN AND GLASS BALL - PIETER CLAESZ

oil on panel, 1628, 36 x 59, Germanisches National Museum, Nuremberg

- Claesz was one of the most important Dutch still life painters of the 17th century.
- His principal aim was to render the materials and catch the reflected light as accurately as possible. His compositional and painterly techniques and his extensive painting skills illustrated in his works made him highly admirable.
- Both traditional patrons of art and the merging middle class had a strong interest in the art form of still life
- Still life art in the 17th century often included strong sybolism to suggest meaning behind the objects. This work is strongly influenced by symbolism for example; The overturned glass drained to the very last drop symbolises the brevity of earthly pleasures.
- Lighting is important in the work to signify importance of some objects for example; the violin.

IMPLEMENT BLUE - MARGARET PRESTON

oil on canvas on hardboard, 1927, 42 x 43, New South Wales, Australia

- Margaret Preston was one of Austalia's most celebrated modern artists.
- She concentrated on the principals and motifs of modernist art, Asian art and Aboriginal art.
- Austrlian art in the 1900's was more characterised by European influences and Preston felt strongly about this so she developed a preoccupation with the idea of developing a modern and distinctly Australian art.
- The artwork consists of man made objects which have been arranged in a very modern and artificially lit space.
- The restricted colour palette in Implement Blue is very different to Margarets usual works which display colourful and elaborate flowers.



Still Life with Lemons, Oranges and  Rose-

Artist- Francesco De Zurbaran (1598-1664)

Title- Still Life with Lemons, Oranges and a Rose
Date- 1633
Medium- Oil on canvas
Dimensions- height:60 cm, width:107 cm



 

• Francesco Zurbaran was a Spanish painter, known for his religious paintings of saints and biblical subjects
• This image was constructed as a homage to the virgin Mary
• Traditional associations of the indvidual objects encourage symbolic meaning
• The cup is a symbol of purity, the rose is one of her floral attributes, the oranges stand for virginity/fertility and the lemons are emblems of faith
• The well ordered appearance of the objects are symbolic to the offering at an altar



Gummy Worms Artist- Margaret Morrison
Title- Gummy Worms
Date- 2007
Medium- Oil on Canvas
Dimensions- height:24 cm width:24 cm

•   Margaret Morrison is known for her surreal subjects and still life images
• Margaret's latest collection of paintings including this one 'Gummy Worms' is described as 'larger than life'
• The subjects of her still life paintings are nostalgic, using recognisable images and symbolism to recapture our childhood memories
• The use of bright colours and its unique nature draws us into it, as is it compelling and very interesting
• This artwork is described as 'outside mainstream' as it is not a stereotypical kind of art work



 Artist: Margaret Morrison
* Name: Chocolates
* Date: 2008
* Material: Oil on Canvas
* Size: 28 in x 58 in
* Location: Woodward Gallery


* Based on the indulgences of life.
* Her paintings now reflect her life and what she hes been through
* She was a professor, influenced most of her art before her diagnosis
* Subjective frame used to highlight her idea of what makes her comfortable and happy.




Artist: Pieter Claesz

* Name: Breakfast Piece
* Date: 1646

* Material: Oil on Panel
* Size: 23.6 in x 33.1 in.
* Location: Pushkin Museum.

 

* Uses a monochrome colour pallet ( greys, brown, blacks)
* Main idea was to capture the lighting across the objects
* Each object is set to have its own meaning
* Has a religion view on it, almost like the last supper
* Subjective and Structual frames.

Comparison of Juan Sanchez Cotan and Giorgio Morandi

Artwork: Natura Morta
Artist: Giorgio Morandi
Date: 1956
Size: 30.3 x 36.4cm.
Materials: oil on canvas
Located now: unknown private collectionles, bowls, flowers, and landscapes

• Giorgio Morandi was an Italian painter and printmaker who specialized in still life. His paintings are Famous for their tonal delicacy in depicting apparently simple subjects, which were mainly to vases, bottles, bowls, flowers, and landscapes.
• Giorgio Morandi was born in Bologna (1890-1964).
• Giorgio studied and trained at Accademia di Belle Arti, Bologna where he found inspiration from Cezanne
• In 1915, he joined the army but suffered a breakdown and was indefinitely discharged.
• The tones that Morandi uses in his Still lives are very dull, gloomy and cold colours. The painting has its placement straight in the centre of everything, drawing our attention to the objects in the middle.

Artwork: Quince, cabbage, melon and cucumberArtist: Juan Sanchez CotanDate: 1602
Size: 69x85cmMaterials: using oil on canvas.
Located now: at the San Diego Museum of art.

• Juan Sanchez Cotan was a Spanish Baroque painter, a pioneer of realism in Spain.
• Juan Sanchez Cotan was born in June 1560 and died in September 8 1627 (aged 67).
• Typically, his greatest paintings were spare, gloriously illusionistic arrangements of fruit and vegetables some of which hang from a fine string at different levels while others sit on a ledge or window.
• In August 1603 he closed his workshop in Toledo to renounce the world and enter a Roman Catholic religious order.
• Quince, cabbage, melon and cucumber by Juan Sanchez Cotan, is a still life artwork which uses everyday objects, fruits and vegetable such as a melon, cut open to reveal its pale pink flesh, a cucumber, a yellow apple, a cabbage with thick leaves.

Comparison of Vincent van Gogh and Francisco de Zurbaran



Title- The Vase with 12 Sunflowers
Artist- Vincent van Gogh

Date- 1888
Medium- Oil on canvas
Location- National Gallery London, London, United Kingdom
Dimensions- 91 × 72 cm (35.8 × 28.3 in)



• Vincent van Gogh was a Dutch post-Impressionist painter who painted some of the most powerful images ever created.
• The artist felt an intense connection with his surroundings, and he was able to visually capture the movements and energies of nature. By emphasizing the elements of line and color, van Gogh transformed the scenes he saw around him into masterpieces.
• He famously wrote to his brother Theo: "I want to do paintings which touch some people."
• Since Vincent Van Gogh was not a successful artist until after his death so he did not receive much recognition for his work during the time they were created. It wasn’t until after his death where he was seen as one for the world greatest post- impressionism artist.
• The colour of sunflowers was particularly important for the Van Gogh, who developed a personal colour symbolism in which yellow suggested happiness and optimism. In this painting the yellow- dominated palette is intensified by the contrasting blue outline of the vase.

Title- Still Life with Lemons, Oranges, and a Rose
Artist- Francisco de Zurbaran
Date- 1633
Medium- Oil on Canvas
Location- Norton Simon Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA, USA
Dimensions- Height: 60 cm (23.6 in), Width: 107 cm (42.1 in)

• Zurbarán devoted himself to an artistic expression of religion and faith. He is known primarily for his religious paintings depicting saints, monks, nuns, and martyrs, and for his still life’s.
• Religious people, the church and the wealthy took a greater interest in Francisco de Zurbaran work because of his use of rich colour and tone and his historical and religious depictions of people, animals, saints and objects in the Catholic faith.
• The symbolic reading in “Still Life with Lemons, Oranges, and a Rose” where the citrons are a paschal fruit and signify faithfulness; the basket of oranges represents virginity; orange blossoms, fertility; water, purity; and the rose is a symbol of divine love. The image has been construed as a tribute to the Virgin Mary. Additionally, I believe that the structural division of the composition into three separate parts might suggest to the Trinity.
• The placement of the items works well for the painting as they contrast each other, working together to create and harmonious piece.
• I believe that this is a successful artwork because of the rich and passive colours and the way the composition is geometrically perfect. The objects clarity and realistic aspects truly makes this painting and amazing piece of art.

Comparision of: Still life with Skull, Jan Gossaert and Violin and Candlestick, Georges Braque



Georges Braque
Violin and Candlestick, 1910
Oil painted on canvas, 61x50cm
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, USA



• This artwork reflects the theme of 'Cubism'
• The artwork is based on a grid framework and the painter covered the boundaries of the black outlined objects using earth toned colours
• The effect of Cubism transforms the dimension of the art work making it look three dimensions
• Cubism allows the audience to see the objects from a multitude of viewpoints to represent the painting in greater context
• The shattering look gives the audience a complexity of emotions

Jan Gossaert
Carondelet Diptych (outside), 1517
Still Life with Skull
Oil on wood, 43x27cm
Louvre, Paris

• This artwork projects the theme of Vanitas or Momento Mori, meaning remember your mortality
• The skull in the painting reflects the idea of death and is a typical symbol and reminder of death
• Painted on the reverse left side of the Carondelet Diptych, a diptych is a painting on two hinged wooden panels that are closed like a book
• The script above the skull is written in Latin that translates to "he who thinks always of death can easily scorn all things"
• The word MATURA is chiseled into the bottom of the artwork, the word mature comes from the work MATURA, this suggests the full physical development.

Comparison of Giorgio Morandi and Jude Rae



Giorgio Morandi , Natura Morta, Oil on canvas, 1929




Jude Rae, Oil on Linen Australian contemporary artist












The still life paintings by contemporary Australian artist, Jude Rae, show a clear influence of Italian Modern artist Giorgio Morandi. Both artists create compositions based on common everyday objects such as bottles, boxes, jars, jugs and in Rae's case fire extinguishers. Both artists reflect an intensity of observation and a distinctive use of light in and both artists have depersonalied the objects by removing their labels.

The Fall

Mannequin, Teddy & Artwork



S. Dewar, digital photograph, 2008



Willem Kalf

Artist: Willem Kalf

Title: A still life with a Gilded Jug

Date: 17th century

Material: oil on canvas

Size: 77x60cm

Location: Dutch

Vanitas Still-Life

Artist : EDWART COLLIER

Date :1705

Technique :Oil on canvas, 98 x 124 cm

Type :still-life

Form :Painting
Location :Private collection

Still Life Attributes of Music

Still life with portrait of King Louis XIV 1638-1715

Artist: Jean Garnier

Date: 1672

Material: Oil on canvas

Size: Unkown

Location: Chateau de Versailles, France

Self Portrait Still Life by Marilyn Knipfer

Marilyn Knipfer, oil and acrylic, 14 x 11

location and date unknown

I like the warm colours and mood, it is also quite realistic yet simple

Max Dupain- Tamara Toumanova & Serge Lifar, Swan Lake, Sydney, 1939-1940

Tatiana Riabouchinska and Roman Jasinsky in Les Dieux mendiants (The Gods go a-begging), between Nov 1938-Aug 1940

Max Dupain - Valentina Blinova, Valentin Froman. Stravinsky's The Firebird.

Max Dupain- Nude

Max Dupain

Tired Soldier by Max Dupain, Queensland 1943

Max Dupain Photography

Observatory Hill and Sydney Harbour Bridge 1940

Max Dupain

Historic Entrance and Captain Cook Wing of the

Art gallery of NSW, Sydney.

Photograph by Max Dupain

Max Dupain

Australia 22 Apr 1911–27 Jul 1992

Untitled - two shells on stones

Max Dupainn - Photography

Max Dupain, Violinist rehearsing at the Methodist Ladies' College in Burwood Sydney, 1970, Photograph.

Max Dupain - Australian Photographer



Shark Tower, Manly Surf Pavilion (demolished 1981) 1939




Advertisement for Hoover , 1937




Australia Square 1968



Max Dupain's MODERNIST photography demonstrates:
- unusual viewpoints or angles for each shot
- contrast of forms and directional lines
- strong or contrasting use of LIGHT & SHADOW or DARK

Audrey Flack - Photorealism or Superrealism




Marilyn (Vanitas) 1977, Painting

 




Chanel, 1974, painting

  



Wheel Of Fortune, Dye transfer Photograph









Reflection, Dye Transfer Photograph



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