The Drama of Fruit & Flora
In celebration of the holiday centerpiece, we've assembled a gallery of still lifes by old master and modern artists.
In celebration of the holiday centerpiece, we've put together a gallery of still lifes by a wide variety of artists, from 17th-century Dutch masters to a contemporary crochet artist. Inspiration for all the things you can design with some good light and luscious subjects.
In Still Life (2001-2012)
John Baldessari
American artist John Baldessari has really shaken up the table in Abraham van Beyeren's 17th century painting Banquet Still Life. For a 2001 exhibition at LACMA, Baldessari hung the Dutch painting on the wall next to an empty frame and the 38 objects included in the original scene. Visitors were invited to digitally arrange their own compositions, each producing a still life that, well, didn't have to be so still. The piece was popular, so he developed an iPhone app and put it online. "I'm just anticipating everyone trying to make the lobster dance," said Baldessari.
Photos: Banquet Still Life, right; In Still Life, by a contributor, left
Still Life with Fruit
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610)
Caravaggio is often described as the father of Roman still-life painting, yet only two independent still lifes have been identified among his work. Still Life with Fruit features his signature dramatic lighting: a shaft of light that falls on the fruits & gourds below (the artist is said to have cut holes in the ceiling of his studio, incurring the wrath of his landlord).
Still Life with Sneakers
Diver & Aguilar (2010)
UK-based photography duo Pedro Aguilar and Mike Diver staged a Caravaggio-inspired "Chiaroscuro" shoot, an homage to the Italian painter's use of light and evocative imagery. Still Life with Sneakers is one in the series, a modern and whimsical interpretation of Caravaggio's gravitas. Following standard practice of the genre, these artists also withhold the scene's actors; instead, we are offered a reminder of their absence—an accumulation of footwear.
Still Life with Flowers & Fruit
Cornelius De Beet (1772-1840)
Amsterdam-born painter Cornelius De Beet depicts an abundance harvest of the usual suspects: gourds, grapes, a ripe melon, berries, stone fruits, and corn (which reached the Netherlands by the 18th century, although at the time of this painting, De Beet had moved to Baltimore). The artist also paints tulips, recalling the tulip mania that prompted bankruptcies as the Dutch speculated on the sale of exotic bulbs.
Modern Groceries (2009)
Photographer Stephanie Dean stages modern food items on a classic stage, and captures them with the dramatic light of Dutch still life paintings. She includes details that indicate a modern consumer culture—the plastic packaging on a head of lettuce, the stickers on produce, the protective padding on fruit—to draw our attention to the increasing distance between garden and table, and to remind us of how precious an apple once was. "In many cases, the price a [17th century Dutch] buyer would have paid for a painting would be considerably less than that he would have had to pay for all the items within the paintings, which often included expensive and exotic items and foods." Today, an orange is easy to come by, but that's not to say it doesn't deserve the honor of a still life.
Bowl with Figs, Cherries, and a Bird
Giovanna Garzoni (1600-1670)
Giovanna Garzoni isn't well-known in canon of Baroque painters (perhaps because still lifes were not common among her Italian contemporaries, or because she was a woman), yet her work is fantastic, and it has a distinctly modern feeling. Her still lifes of fruit and animals (here, a bird and a fig) manage to be capture both folk-art and high art, and her flower vases are elegant and playful.
Bowl with Figs, Cherries, and a Bird
Giovanna Garzoni (1600-1670)
Giovanna Garzoni isn't well-known in the canon of Baroque painters (perhaps because still lifes were not common among her Italian contemporaries, or because she was a woman), yet her work is fantastic, and it has a distinctly modern feeling. Her still lifes of fruit and animals (here, a bird and a fig) manage to be capture both folk-art and high art, and her flower vases are elegant and playful.
Dutch Still Life (2007)
Emily Comeau
Fiber artist Emily Comeau has gone a step further—a rendition of a 17th century Dutch still life with an entirely new medium: yarn. Instead of painting or photographing her subjects, she's crocheted them.
Still Life with Flowers, Shells, and Insects
Balthasar van der Ast (1593/94–1657)
In addition flowers and fruit (the de rigeur subjects of his contemporaries), the Dutch painter Balthasar van der Ast included shells in his still lifes; in the early 17th century, exotic shells were prized by Dutch collectors. As in most still life paintings, people are absent; instead, insects begin to explore. His classical compositions were balanced in form and color.
