Is there hidden content in traditional still life?
A still life is a picture of inanimate objects — a bowl of fruit,
an arrangement of flowers, a stack of books on a desk — that have
been deliberately chosen and arranged by the artist. Throughout
history, however, artists have created still lifes that are more
than just a picture of objects. Many still lifes comment on individual
or cultural values. They might remind us of life's brevity or
symbolize wealth and power. An artist may simply choose attractive or
interesting objects to depict, but they might also choose objects that
symbolize aspects of our existence.
Speaking volumes
A still life has always been an important formal exercise for an
artist. The goal is for the artist to capture volume, texture and color
convincingly enough to convey an illusion of reality. The artist sets
the scene — the objects themselves, their location, the lighting
conditions, the point of view — to create a challenging
composition and demonstrate his or her ability to speak volumes in the
basic language of form, texture, color, and light.
Still lifes with an agenda
Some of the best-known still lifes are 17th century Dutch "vanitas"
paintings, which were intended to reminded viewers of the transitory
nature of life. An apple in a bowl of fruit, when examined closely,
contained a worm. A flower in a vase showed signs of wilting. A
book on a desk was placed next to a skull to remind us of the inevitability
of death, despite all our learning and cultural achievement. A still
life was not just a picture of objects; it had a significant message
to communicate to us.
Still life experiments
In the late 19th and into the 20th centuries, artists tended to omit
obvious symbolic content and to concentrate on the still life as a
way to express new artistic theories.
In the late 19th century, Paul
Cezanne used the still life to explore his ideas of how to render
volume on a two-dimensional surface. In the early 20th century, Pablo
Picasso and Georges Braque created a new kind of still life: the Cubist
collage, which included actual fragments of everyday objects such as
photographs, newspaper headlines, or bar coasters. It allowed them to
express radical new ideas about perspective, depth, volume, and the
very nature of art itself.
Bringing art down to earth
In the later twentieth century, Robert Rauschenberg advanced this
tradition of collage by inventing what he called "combines"
— combinations of paintings and real, three-dimensional objects.
In doing so, he reintroduced symbolism into the tradition of still
life. Instead of returning to themes of ripeness and decay, or life
and death, he explored the nature of absurdity and accident. By
mounting a stuffed chicken on top of wooden crates or putting a spare
tire around a stuffed Angora goat, he pushed the boundaries of art and
brought life and art closer together.
Next: Figure — What do artists find so compelling about the human body?
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