Still Life: Theory and Practice

Abstract

Still Life:Theory and Practice Lois Baer Barr (bio) The Beauty of Still Life Is not having to ask the model to sit still or having to replicate her pug nose, muscular arms, the improbable red of her hair or even pay her. The only thing eggplants do like models is smoke when you roast them in olive oil and salt (the eggplants, of course). The Beauty of Still Life II No mosquitoes, no wind, no sudden torrents when you pack your paints and run. Still Life and Bugs Flies in the paintings of Louise Moillon (1610-1696) are discreet, and I can see that moths represent transformation and ants, hard work. I still don’t want them in my kitchen or my paintings. Still Life from Cubism to Pop Günter Salzmann says Picasso and Braque used inanimate objects to declare their independence as painters, while Warhol and Lichtenstein showed everyday objects in a new light. Anselm Kiefer painted “Still Life is Exciting” on his 1976 painting of a potted geranium. Irony? To me, the still lifes of [End Page 84] Cotán, Caravaggio and Picasso are exciting, and the most exciting thing about Kiefer’s piece is that it looks like he had as much trouble rendering geranium leaves as I do. Still Life for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Take the crown jewels, pry loose the stones, and scatter them on a mountain of garbage in Bangladesh. -Wait a minute, isn’t still life apolitical? Still Lifes of Breakfast -Portraits of glum faces staring into coffee mugs? No, there usually are not portraits in still lifes. I meant the Dutch proclivity to paint the panoply of cheeses, dried meats, and fruits they serve at breakfast. These still lifes are called ontbijt. In our kitchen most mornings, you’ll find a veggie omelet, some ketchup heated in the microwave, and coffee. In winter, maybe cheese grits and in summer, berries. No silver pitchers, exotic spices, crystal goblets, or fine porcelain. Still Leven The Dutch coined the term that still life comes from, still leven—still or motionless model. Following the Dutch, the Spaniards called their compositions naturaleza muerta, and the French followed suit with nature morte. [End Page 85] -So, you could go to Syria and paint dead bodies on the streets? -No, as I said, still life isn’t political, and you can paint at home in the safety of your studio. Still Life and Revolution In 1962 Andy Warhol shocked the art world by painting 32 cans of Campbell’s soup. But did he ever paint an elderly couple opening a can of cat food for dinner? Oops, politics. Bodegón or the Imitation of Nature A lay friar, the Spaniard Juan Sánchez Cotán (1560–1627) painted lemons, cabbage, thistle, and game birds suspended from strings on a darkened window sill. No doubt the birds’ stiff little limbs gave rise to the Spanish euphemism for death, quedarse pajarito, to be stiff as a bird. In Cotán’s paintings everything is at eye level looking so real you want to grab the duck, pluck its feathers and cook it in orange sauce. The French call that trompe l’oeil, and many say that the challenge of imitating nature was the origin of still life. Ancient Greek painters bragged they could paint things to look more lifelike than nature, especially Zeuxis, when a bird came and pecked at his rendering of grapes. I don’t want to brag, but once a fly did buzz around my watercolor of strawberries. Think how many eyes you fool when you fool a fly. [End Page 86] Still Life of Fruit Yummy. Grapes are great after hours of painting. Unless you are a consummate painter like Austrian master Carl Schuch (1846-1903) or Paul Cézanne, avoid painting apples with bruises. Your friends will wrinkle their noses and ask, “What were you trying to paint?” Still Life and Family Although Antonio López García had a studio in the basement of his home in Madrid, his work spilled over to the rest of the house. He has spent hours, days, sometimes years on his still life projects. He...