Why Is the "Still Life" So Appealing?
I have a question for Ricochet art experts. What explains the allure of a great still life? A decade or so ago, my wife, son, and I spent several hours in the Prado, Madrid's great museum. Along with works by Rembrandt, Van Dyck and and other great painters, it has the greatest collection of the works of Velasquez and Goya, not to mention El Greco. And they were stunning.
But in the end both my wife and I were blown away by the still life paintings of Luis Melendez (1716-80). Food, particularly bread, vegetables, and fruit were his primary subjects, yet they were among the most emotionally satisfying paintings in the museum. Can anyone explain this? Nothing happens in them. There are no people in the picture--yet they seem so human. A photograph of the same items would be mundane, but to see them painted so beautifully is a truly aesthetic experience.
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Apr '12
Re: Why Is the "Still Life" So Appealing?
It worked! I LOVE cats, incidentally! Hope you like them too!
I see I am going to have to restrain myself! 8-))
Jun '10
Re: Why Is the "Still Life" So Appealing?
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
tabula rasa
I don't have the artistic vocabulary, but they seem to be a little world of their own, but filled with ordinary, everyday gifts from God.
Yes. Still-lifes are prayers of thanksgiving, even when their mood is somber.
Since you were in Spain, you may have seen some of Juan Sanchez Cotan's still-lifes. Here's perhaps my favorite. It's so simple.
Some Spanish artist working in the same style did a moving portrait of I think a single dead poultry bird hung upside-down, but I can't remember who. It was sort of a crucifixion, avian-style. · 4 minutes ago
Beautiful, and it does look familiar. The Prado was almost overwhelming--so many fantastic works: I'd love to go back because after three or four hours I went into sensory overload. When you walk into a new room, see a masterpiece, and say "Ho-hum, merely another masterwork," it's time to go outside and re-orient yourself.
Edited on May 21, 2012 at 4:10amJun '10
Re: Why Is the "Still Life" So Appealing?
Red Feline: It worked! I LOVE cats, incidentally! Hope you like them too!
I see I am going to have to restrain myself! 8-)) · 5 minutes ago
Red: Cats and dogs are often a subject here. If you haven't met Casey, you will. He has a cat avatar, and prides himself on being even more frivolous than me.
I'm actually more of a dog guy (we have a Wheaton Terrier and a Scotty). But we also have a gray tabby who rules the house: the problem with cats is that the relationship is always on their terms.
May '10
Re: Why Is the "Still Life" So Appealing?
I can't explain why, but they touch my heart too. They seem to capture some of the stillness of eternity, don't they?
Here is one my daughter did. It hangs over the mantle in our dining room.
Dec '11
Re: Why Is the "Still Life" So Appealing?
I think it has something to do with two dimensional representations of a three dimensional world. Look at katiev's daughter's still life. If you were to see the rendered objects in real life and shift your position the relationships of the objects would change. But if you physically move around while viewing the picture, no changes occur in the two dimensional object that creates a three dimensional illusion. The brain understands that a trick is being played on it, but the better the rendering the better the trick.
Edited on May 21, 2012 at 4:29amOct '10
Re: Why Is the "Still Life" So Appealing?
tabula rasa
Well, there is art for art's sake, and there is the time-honored art of keeping the client happy.
I'm envious of those with some talent--even my stick-figures look fake. · 32 minutes ago
Edited 31 minutes ago
What we tend to forget is that most of the Masters in art or writing we admire consumed substances frowned upon today. Perhaps the adoption of newer cultural mores has limited some things.
Now that should provoke a thought or two.
Jun '10
Re: Why Is the "Still Life" So Appealing?
Rodin: I think it has something to do with two dimensional representations of a three dimensional world. Look at katiev's daughter's still life. If you were to see the rendered objects in real life and shift your position the relationships of the objects would change. But if you physically move around while viewing the picture, no changes occur in the two dimensional object that creates a three dimensional illusion. The brain understands that a trick is being played on it, but the better the rendering the better the trick. · 1 minute ago
Edited 0 minutes ago
Nice job, Katie's daughter. As to the trick, I'm not certain my brain knew it was being tricked.
Aug '10
Re: Why Is the "Still Life" So Appealing?
I'm impressed. I was never recognized in my youth, though sometimes people bought (or stole) my stuff. The most I was ever offered was for a work I had promised my Dad for his birthday, so no sale. Little sis, the one who struggled with observational drawing, is now the artistic hotshot in the family. I was talked out of art. She stuck with it and made a career of it.
A lost art? I've seen some well-executed reflections here and there on modern canvases. It might have smacked too much of photorealism for traditional tastes, but the optics seemed Kosher.
I could never handle canvas myself. Too much of a perfectionist -- would never finish. I needed to stick to paper, which can only be worked so much.
Edited on May 21, 2012 at 4:44amMay '10
Re: Why Is the "Still Life" So Appealing?
There's also something about the way the artist knows how to select and arrange--to reveal things about Beauty that the rest of us would otherwise miss.
How did my daughter know to pick those pears, that vase, and the mirrored table, to place them by a window? And then, what inspired her to invent a landscape beyond?
I'm so glad there are people with that gift!
May '10
Re: Why Is the "Still Life" So Appealing?
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
I could never handle canvas myself. Too much of a perfectionist -- would never finish. I needed to stick to paper, which can only be worked so much. ·
Midge, I'm so interested to learn you're an artist too. You seem to have a "skill-set" like my daughter's: math and music and painting.
I'm sure there is a deep and mysterious connection between these things, having to do with time and measure and proportion and all that. But it eludes me. I am too obtuse and mundane and ungifted.
Jul '11
Re: Why Is the "Still Life" So Appealing?
Midget Faded Rattlesnake:
You might appreciate this article by the composer Morton Laridsen on how a still-life can inspire a musical work (a good musical work, BTW). · 3 hours ago
Edited 1 hour ago
Thank you for this! Magnum Mysterium is a sublime composition; one of my favorites. How cool to know some of the backstory!
-E
Aug '10
Re: Why Is the "Still Life" So Appealing?
katievs
Midge, I'm so interested to learn you're an artist too.
Alas, not anymore. A problem with my dominant hand -- plus too many other things to do -- has put the kibosh on art for the time being. I still love looking at art, though.
katievs
I'm sure there is a deep and mysterious connection between these things, having to do with time and measure and proportion and all that. But it eludes me. I am too obtuse and mundane and ungifted.
Ratios, proportions, yes they're in there...
You may lack this particular skill set, but you are in no way mundane.
Feb '12
Re: Why Is the "Still Life" So Appealing?
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
tabula rasa
I don't have the artistic vocabulary, but they seem to be a little world of their own, but filled with ordinary, everyday gifts from God.
Yes. Still-lifes are prayers of thanksgiving, even when their mood is somber.
Since you were in Spain, you may have seen some of Juan Sanchez Cotan's still-lifes. Here's perhaps my favorite. It's so simple.
Some Spanish artist working in the same style did a moving portrait of I think a single dead poultry bird hung upside-down, but I can't remember who. It was sort of a crucifixion, avian-style. · 1 hour ago
Thanks, Rattlesnake. I had no idea about Cotan; I look forward to seeing his paintings up close sometime. Melendez I find breathtaking - my wife dragged me to see an exhibit on him a few years ago, and I've been grateful to her ever since - but, in your view, was Melendez just one of many of that era who painted incredible still life works?
Jun '10
Re: Why Is the "Still Life" So Appealing?
Leporello
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
Yes. Still-lifes are prayers of thanksgiving, even when their mood is somber.
Since you were in Spain, you may have seen some of Juan Sanchez Cotan's still-lifes.
Some Spanish artist working in the same style did a moving portrait of I think a single dead poultry bird hung upside-down, but I can't remember who. It was sort of a crucifixion, avian-style.
Thanks, Rattlesnake. I had no idea about Cotan; I look forward to seeing his paintings up close sometime. Melendez I find breathtaking - my wife dragged me to see an exhibit on him a few years ago, and I've been grateful to her ever since - but, in your view, was Melendez just one of many of that era who painted incredible still life works?
You raise another imponderable of art. I have no clear idea why the Melendez still-lifes resonated so much with me. Mystery in life is a good thing, and one of the most fascinating is why one artist touches me and another touches you. I'm not sure I want to know--it's enough that that's the way it is.
Oct '10
Re: Why Is the "Still Life" So Appealing?
Re, Midget Faded Rattlesnake.
Came to a grim realization early on when the oil paintings were selected for a world tour with no renumeration up front save the spurious statements after we sell these we will give you credit. Charming that and good luck, thank you no sale.
The finest artist one has ever known had been trained since childhood and could replicate the Masters that were saleable. When she came into her own, produced some truly impressive work.
Being a latent perfectionist myself, after starting a canvas there was an original well thought out image and intent to complete the thing. Then the self defeating what if ? Would take control.
The success finds itself in returning to the original idea, in other words, we tend to fool ourselves in this sense. Had it right the first time ! Go figure.
Edited on May 21, 2012 at 5:38amMay '10
Re: Why Is the "Still Life" So Appealing?
tabula rasa
You raise another imponderable of art. I have no clear idea why the Melendez still-lifes resonated so much with me. Mystery in life is a good thing, and one of the most fascinating is why one artist touches me and another touches you. I'm not sure I want to know--it's enough that that's the way it is. · 8 minutes ago
I had never heard of Melendez until this post. But I love the painting you feature, and I shall be looking out for him now.
I'm normally rather traditional and realist in taste, but I love Cezanne and Chagall. Something in them speaks to my subjectivity, I guess. I don't know how or why.
Apr '12
Re: Why Is the "Still Life" So Appealing?
I'm no big art person-- as evidenced by liking Kinkade's stuff, it seems-- but it seems to me that Still Life is an idealized version of normal things. It's sort of like a picture version of that One Shining Image you've got of your mom when you were little, or what you think of when your daughter laughs, or your husband smiles.
He's not very famous, but I like Tim Jones' still life paintings.
This is a favorite:
Aug '10
Re: Why Is the "Still Life" So Appealing?
Leporello
Thanks, Rattlesnake. I had no idea about Cotan; I look forward to seeing his paintings up close sometime.
My pleasure.
Leporello
...but, in your view, was Melendez just one of many of that era who painted incredible still life works?
Golly! I think he was -- though "many" is as many does.
There were several Spanish masters of the bodegón, or pantry still-life, as well as some lowland artists (Dutch, Flemish) who also specialized in that more austere style of still-life.
Honestly, there are enough good 'uns that I can't keep the names of my favorites straight. I didn't remember Cotán's name, actually -- I googled "still life melon cucumber" to find the painting I remembered, then looked up the name.
This Wikipedia page on the bodegón is probably as good a place as any to start poking around for names. Zurbarán is a name I remember as being good.
I do know the veggie they're always painting that looks like yellowish mutant celery -- that's a cardoon. Once you trim the spines, rub the fuzz off, and cook it, it tastes like artichokes crossed with popcorn. Yum!
Edited on May 21, 2012 at 4:03pmAug '10
Re: Why Is the "Still Life" So Appealing?
CandE
Midget Faded Rattlesnake:
You might appreciate this article by the composer Morton Laridsen on how a still-life can inspire a musical work (a good musical work, BTW).
Thank you for this! Magnum Mysteriumis a sublime composition; one of my favorites. How cool to know some of the backstory!
Again, my pleasure.
I hadn't known that the prominent G# dissonance on "Virgo" was meant to portray Mary witnessing Jesus' suffering on the cross. I had supposed it was either just a way of surrounding Mary with radiance, or that it depicted the moment she was filled with the Holy Spirit and conceived (since the following line "cujus viscera meruerunt portare Dominum Christum" means "whose guts were worthy to bear Lord Jesus").
Very interesting, though, how we notice exactly what the composer wants us to notice (the G#), even if we don't know why.
Edited on May 21, 2012 at 4:05pmMay '10
Re: Why Is the "Still Life" So Appealing?
Because "still" life is easier to paint than "moving" life.
Aw, shucks, you moved!