as much about narrative. overview of well known in still lives. different ways to interpret them. and how they can be used as a critique.
historical and geographical development of still life genre in wrstern painting
consider a range of critical approaches to analysing and interpreting still life
how legacy of history practices might influence contemporary artists
when still life genre is talked about usually refers to western traditions- problematic
the secret life of things. the mundane exotisized
take sth very humble and insignificant and take a lot of meaning, quietly political.
found object installation. Can - protagonist. memorial to a good night or bitter morning. more interesting in reflection. people make still life arrangements without realising it. the can cannot talk. but perhaps it can see.
still life or dead nature? Rachel ruysch roses tulips sunflower etc.
we use the conventional term without giving a thought on how misleading it is. they are actually dying.
xenia- origins of a genre. hospitality. quite popular not as grand art but in household. symbol of wealth... abundance of food and drinks. 2000 years ago and before. not easy to trance painting traditions as sculpture since they last better
still life lowest form of art ? fall of Roman Empire- still life sort of disappears. midieval art, no place for still life. painting became more symbolic rather than representational. Exceptions: flowers symbolic purity of mary.
new media: the adoration of the mystic lamb. first major oil painting. (still had some still life - allowed detail)
Hans memling. flowers in a jug. 1485. lighting, setting, focus on pattern decoration on vase and tablecloth , flower acting as a symbol .
objects taking over. the four elements: Earth. Joachim beaukaleaur
Christ in the house of Martha and mary. everyday life. main part of painting is taken up with the girl preparing food and interesting arrangement of still life on table.
Still life - a revival. Caravaggio. basket of fruit.
support in genre helped it take off. he recognised the difficulty technically in these kind of paintings.
The Dutch golden age. the Dutch ships acquiring vast amounts of things. contain exotic objects that can only be acquired from specific trade routes. citrus fruits, crab, silver. expensive things to own , extreme luxury. bringing together.
Collages composition
franz snyders. meant to look natural but not bc never that composition in real life. deliberate to make it look natural when it is not.
anti-natural painting. depicting all of these flowers together, deliberately artificial. couldn’t have those flowers in same bouquet at same time. Rachel Ruysch. flowers in glass vase.
making of movies mechanical, natural unnatural merging, disconnection
Tulipmania
not natural. booked around exocticism of theses flowers.
consumption as destruction. breakfast table with blackberry pie. 1631. can afford these silverware but can also afford to smash it up.
vanitas- iconigraohical readings
precariousness of life, became popular in 20th century . This is only one way of understanding / reading these paintings.
music and silence. only present when playing. music was only existing when it was happening live
bodegons. Juan sanchez cotan. objects positioned almost mystically. Parallel drawn between spirituality. did join the monastery. people did use to hang fruit. Spain
France : Chardin - a quiet revolutionary. had to join academy . painted this kind of thing , humble. glass of water and coffee pot. artificial set up. brings these things together for the sake of what they feel like. one transparent and one opaque. geometrical order. dense with minute irregularities.
vallayer-coster. emitted in academy only 26. One of the few female and young. not allowed life drawings.
‘with an apple I will astonish Paris’
cezanne. began to use object painting. visual experiments.
anti-photography. painting as philosophy. van gogh
the everyday rearranged. distorted, unrecognisable.
The modern still life . become sculptural objects. painted reasonably small collection of objects through his career.
dan Taylor -Johnson. still life, 2001. speeding up of decay. biro,
theatrical spaces Emma bennet.
dark spaces.
Ricky swallow. killing time. all carved in single block of wood.
methodological perspectives: historical.
Charles sterling.
Function and interpretation of still life painting
gombrichs pwrception and representation
we use representation . realise truth in painting. the painting is not becoming more or less true.
Bryson’s materialist critique of representation.
grootenboers painting as thinking and the anti painting of tromps l’oiel.
philosophically complex system.
Trompe l’oiel - anti painting. trick of eye. unnatural lighting. hyper real .
symbolic lack in the paintings of willed kalf
caterpillarage. life is constantly dying in painting.
a colonial critique. hierarchies of wealth status and aesthetic culture. detailed analysis of shells and flowers that come from different parts of world. idealistic landscape. possessing all these things together in colonial way.
object oriented ontology.
franchise and customer. common image. secret life of meals / things /
still life - stories of stuff. actor in a political drama. imperialism, life and death. More than one way to tell a story.
