Told Through Still Life

In this selection of the book, Gitlin discusses a seventeenth-century Dutch painter by the name of Vermeer. Vermeer was known for being able to”fr[ee]ze instants, but instants that spoke of the relative constancy of the world in which his subjects lived” (Gitlin 558). People collected Vermeer’s paintings for display throughout their homes. Gitlin sees Vermeer as the seventeenth-century version of the media. In that time, the images painted were relative to the people’s era and private world. In today’s world Vermeer would be the equivalent to a celebrity photographer or movie director. If Vermeer, or any other artist of his time, were to see today’s households, they would find that the once private space inside the home is now much more dominated by images of the outside world than what would have been possible in the 1600’s.

The essay written by Charles Baudelaire, titled “The Modern Public Photography”, is not only very clear to be negative towards the pursuing arts of photography, but also very controversial due to the independent and diverse views on this specific subject matter. Baudelaire makes it very clear in his writings that his opinion is firm on photography and its evolving approach to appease the various spectators of the fine arts. In this essay, Charles Baudelaire illustrates his opinion by insulting multiple previous photographic known ‘art pieces’ and breaking them down into literal meanings, insulting the modern idea of literal duplicates of reality as being defined as “art”, and also persuading those interested in category of photography to seek ‘out-of-the-box’.

Raoul Dufy’s 1906 painting Still Life with Closed Shutters emphasizes the emotion in modern reality rather that the eighteen century’s focus on the physical aspects in its reality. The work of art uses different styles in Modern Art to reflect the symbolic view of the sentiments. The canvas contains the Impressionist characteristic of focusing more on capturing the essence of the atmosphere by sacrificing the dark shadows for brighter shades of color. This greatly contrasts with the eighteen centuries’ attention on the finer details to show the item’s appearance in real life. The portrait also has the Abstract Art aspect of withdrawing the items’ outlines to create a visual representation of the human emotions. The modern reality cares more

This is a work of art or painting of a group of inanimate objects. It is usually a painting of non-moving objects hence the term ‘still.’ Still-life painting developed in Europe in the 16th century. The Ancient Egyptians used to paint stacks of offerings for their gods while the Greeks and Romans painted objects on the floors of villas especially at Pompeii. What is common with still-life partners is their enthusiasm in paying close and personal attention to closely-observed objects. Still, life provides artists with a platform on which they can explore their relationship with the objects that surround them.

This essay explores two pictures that have bedrooms in different settings, one of them is “Bedroom in Arles “by Van Gogh, and the other is “Curandera (Faith Healer)” by Carmen Lomas GARZA. Balance, shapes and colors are three visible elements of art that had similarities and differentness in the paintings. The most important principle of design is the balance in both paintings. Carmen Lomas painting has a bed in the center of the room with woman on it.

Photographs are re-collections of the past. This essay is about photography, memory, and history and addresses the relationship between photographic images and the need to remember; it is based on the notion that seeing is a prelude to historical knowledge and that understanding the past relies on the ability to imagine. At the same time, the role of thought and imagination in the production of society--as reflected in the earlier work of Louis Althusser (1970), Maurice Godelier (1984) and perhaps more significantly, Cornelis Castoriadis (1975), suggests yet another role for photography in the construction of a social and cultural reality. Photographs in capitalist societies contribute to the production of information and participate in the surveillance of the environment where their subjective and objective qualities are applied to the private uses of photographic images in the perpetuation of memory.

Baudelaire once said, “Caricatures are often the most faithful mirror of life.” The art of caricature was established into print in eighteenth-century England as a form of commentary on the current events of the time. Caricature as a style itself is a combination of two separate social inventions. “Caricature Adopting the Italian invention of caricatura-the graphic exaggeration of facial and bodily features for comic effect and combining it with an updated repertoire of visual metaphor, personification, and allegorical attributes. ” Though born in England, the story about to be told in this paper is one of Spanish origin, a story about Francisco Goya. This paper will discuss how Goya implemented painting, drawing, and printing technique to stimulate social critique of and satirize the subjects of his works. Then how does Goya’s methodology transcend into modern caricature and social critique?

In this essay a brief introduction to the history of the Netherlands in the 17th century will be offered, including an overview of commerce, politics, social life, religion and art. The composition will segue to a review of the most popular Dutch still life artists of the 17th century, and then transition to the specific genre of floral still life. This naturally leads to a consideration of techniques of the Dutch artists of that era and a succinct study of several of the most famous Dutch floral still lives from the 1600s. The thesis of this investigation is floral still lives became a popular specialty genre of 17th century Dutch painters, reflecting he advanced painting techniques that grew in popularity over the century.

In “Ways of Seeing”, John Berger, an English art critic, argues that images are important for the present-day by saying, “No other kind of relic or text from the past can offer such direct testimony about the world which surrounded other people at other times. In this respect images are more precise and richer literature” (10). John Berger allowed others to see the true meaning behind certain art pieces in “Ways of Seeing”. Images and art show what people experienced in the past allowing others to see for themselves rather than be told how an event occurred. There are two images that represent the above claim, Arnold Eagle and David Robbins’ photo of a little boy in New York City, and Dorothea Lange’s image of a migratory family from Texas; both were taken during the Great Depression.

Gersh-Nesic (n.d.) claims that “The world was changing rapidly and some artists wanted their work to be about their contemporary environment—about themselves and their own perceptions of life;” however, it is in this lattermost portion of her statement –

After the Renaissance, artists became more interested in the natural world. The result in still life paintings was the inclusion of objects like shells and insects. Still life paintings became less religiously inclined, especially as Protestantism grew in Europe. By the 18th century, still life’s were almost entirely devoid of symbolism

The exhibition was an idyllic location for the piece to be shown as it encapsulated the theme of “Collecting.” A extremely common theme through photograms is collecting, from the early blue tinted cyanotypes of Anna Atkins to the black and white “Rayographs” of Man Ray, photographers have consistently used light sensitive emulsion to capture found items and items of significance. This is no different in “Love” although the objects are animals rather than scissors, rulers or other inanimate objects they are still being treated as though they are simply another collected piece. The rabbits have been posed delicately as though they are a pair of children’s dolls being set up for the next game of “Mommies and Daddies” with their paws outstretched yearning for the intimacy and embrace of their spouse. Their innards have been intertwined with precision and purpose signifying the entanglement of their deep-rooted desire to be a part of each other, even in death. However, despite the symbolism and past lives of the lovers, the rabbits are still treated as mere objects to be exhibited as part of a

Photorealism is a term that characterizes the artists whose work depends heavily on photographs and mixes together the real and the unreal. For example, Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergère utilizes photorealism to depict a scene from modern Parisian life: a young barmaid stands behind the bar of a bustling night-club, confronting the viewer with a worn-out, emotionless expression and seemingly awaiting her patron's order or request. The painting plays with our sense of reality by showing a strange man and the misaligned reflections of the barmaid and the champagne bottles in a mirror. Likewise, in Picture for Women, Jeff Wall emulates the internal structure of Manet’s painting and incorporates elements such as the light bulbs and and poles to give the image spatial depth. This photograph shows a reflection in the mirror of a sparse studio room split into three panels with a woman on the left, a camera framed by a window in the center, and a man walking on the right. Both images utilize reflection to breach the limits of the naked eye’s perspective and evoke a sense of mystery and ambiguity. This paper will argue that in Picture for Women and Bar at the Folies-Bergere, Jeff Wall and Manet utilize female protagonists and the motif of the mirror to examine spectatorship and movement in still art and challenge our traditional sense of reality and the concept of the male gaze.

Still life paintings are a way of elevating ordinary everyday objects to a place of prominence that tell a story of the society and culture of that time; showing that everything around us, no matter how ordinary, can be seen as beautiful. Painted with watercolors in the year 1985, End Times is a still life painting by artist Michael Beck. In true trompe-l’oeil fashion, the painting needs to be examined up close to be able to tell that it is not a photograph. The objects placed together in this piece are not necessarily objects that one would consider for a work of art. They are items that one would find in most households, but the artist placed them together in a composition, deeming them worthy enough for such artistic expression. In End Times, unlike traditional still life paintings, the artist has placed the items on a wooden floor instead of a table top. The composition is balanced with vases on one side, boxes and a plant on the other and a tall wood and rattan stool in the middle with a few items on the top of the stool. There are four vases of varying heights and widths placed on the foreground on the right of the composition. The largest vase which frames the right of the picture is yellow and white has the look of a ceramic milk jug that has some dried reeds coming out of the top. Next to this vase we see a small brown ceramic vase with more of a geometric tribal design on it, placed directly behind this vase is a tall and slender caramel colored vase. The fourth

This research essay is based on Andries Gouws' series of oil paintings entitled 'Hiding Behind Simple Things'. The reason that this specific series of artworks has been chosen, is because it fits in almost perfectly with the theme I have chosen to embark upon, in terms of subject matter, medium, composition, and style. Both artworks analyze society’s oblivion to life, and how the beauty in life so often goes unnoticed. It comments on how society has become entrapped in the rat race of modern day living. Both artworks do this by painting small, often unnoticed, objects that surround society every day.