Roses

Vincent van Gogh
Roses
Oil on Canvas, Painting

71 x 90 cm
1890
Vincent Van Gogh (1853 – 1890) was a Dutch post-Impressionist Master whose innovative artwork powerfully influenced modern Expressionism, Fauvism, and early abstraction. Astoundingly prolific, Van Gogh produced all of his work during a 10-year period, at one point, creating 150 paintings and drawings within one year. Painting outdoors, Van Gogh uniquely captured the nighttime nuances of light and shadow, and was also renowned for his paintings of sunflowers and irises. Tormented by mental illness for most of his life, Van Gogh created many of his masterpieces while he was institutionalized. Although Van Gogh only sold one painting during his lifetime, he is now regarded as one of the most profoundly influential artists of the 19th century.
Roses was painted shortly before Van Gogh's release from the asylum at Saint–Rémy. He felt he was coming to terms with his illness—and himself. In this healing process, painting was all–important. During those final three weeks of his recovery, he wrote his brother Theo, he had "worked as in a frenzy. Great bunches of flowers, violet irises, big bouquets of roses..." This is one of two rose paintings Van Gogh made at that time. It is among his largest and most beautiful still lifes, with an exuberant bouquet in the glory of full bloom. Although he sometimes assigned certain meanings to flowers, Van Gogh did not make a specific association for roses. It is clear, though, that he saw all blossoming plants as celebrations of birth and renewal—as full of life. That sense is underscored here by the fresh spring green of the background. The undulating ribbons of paint, applied in diagonal strokes, animate the canvas and play off the furled forms of flowers and leaves. Originally, the roses were pink—the color has faded—and would have created a contrast of complementary colors with the green. Such combinations of complements fascinated Van Gogh.
This piece was chosen for the gallery due to the beauty of the piece. Roses have always been a symbol of beauty, and this is depicted in a state when the roses are between full bloom and decay. The way this artist depicts his art has always called to a more subconscious level, and this piece is no exception. The line and colors speak as though they are from a dream or distant memory, somewhat blending together, and yet the roses still stand out. The piece also has a tranquil state to it. Unlike some of the others it may not make one question the beauty or symbolism, yet it has the Still Life feature of making one pause to look upon it’s beauty and subject.

Still Life with Flowers and Fruit

Claude Monet

Still Life with Flowers and Fruit

Oil on Canvas, Painting

39 3/8 x 31 3/4 in.

1869

Claude Monet (1840-1926) was a successful caricaturist in his native Le Havre, but after studying plein-air landscape painting, he moved to Paris in 1859. He soon met future Impressionists Camille Pissarro and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Renoir and Monet began painting outdoors together in the late 1860s, laying the foundations of Impressionism. In 1874, with Pissarro and Edgar Degas, Monet helped organize the Société Anonyme des Artistes, Peintres, Sculpteurs, Graveurs, etc., the formal name of the Impressionists' group. During the 1870s Monet developed his technique for rendering atmospheric outdoor light, using broken, rhythmic brushwork. By the 1880s, his paintings started selling; Pissarro accused him of commercialism, and younger painters called him passé, for he remained loyal to the Impressionists' early goal of capturing the transitory effects of nature through direct observation.  In 1890 he began creating paintings in series, depicting the same subject under various conditions and at different times of the day. His late pictures, made when he was half-blind, are shimmering pools of color almost totally devoid of form.

Although painted in his studio, this still life shows the influence of the outdoor experiments that Claude Monet undertook in the summer and fall of 1869, while he was living at Bougival on the Seine River. His exercises in different painting techniques are seen in the way he softened the outlines of forms and the manner in which he explored the descriptive possibilities of brushstrokes: broad and flat in the tablecloth, sketchy in the apples, and short and dense in the flower petals. Monet's technique is also apparent in the use of light to animate the surfaces of the flowers, fruit, and tablecloth and in the way the colors are affected by the light, by reflections, and by each other. These pictorial innovations became the foundation for the development of the Impressionist technique in the decades that followed.

This piece was chosen due to the vibrancy of the painting. Unlike some other paintings, the piece calls the viewer’s attention with the bright color and beautiful arrangement. This piece also engages the viewer’s senses by making one almost smell flowers and taste the fresh summer fruit on a bright day. There seems to be an abundance which may call the viewer to think of prosperous times of plenty. There’s some symbolism that can be taken away by interpretation, which is key for a simple still life such as this one. I enjoy the works which bring a calming sense with them such as this one, where many still lifes are dark, this is bright and soft. It is wonderful when one can be called by beauty such as this one does, it shows the beauty first and the meaning second which is why it was picked for the gallery. 

Still Life with Bananas and Orange

Edward Weston

Still Life with Bananas and Orange

Gelatin silver print, Photograph

7 7/16 x 9 5/16 in.

1927

Edward Henry Weston (1886-1958) began photographing at the age of sixteen after receiving a Bull’s Eye #2 camera from his father. Weston’s first photographs captured the parks of Chicago and his aunt’s farm. In 1906, following the publication of his first photograph in Camera and Darkroom, Weston moved to California. After working briefly as a surveyor for San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad, he began working as an itinerant photographer. In Los Angeles, he was employed as a retoucher at the George Steckel Portrait Studio. In 1909, Weston moved on to the Louis A. Mojoiner Portrait Studio as a photographer and demonstrated outstanding abilities with lighting and posing. Weston opened his own portrait studio in Tropico, California. This would be his base of operation for the next two decades. Weston became successful working in soft-focus, pictorial style; winning many salons and professional awards. Weston gained an international reputation for his high key portraits and modern dance studies. Articles about his work were published in magazines such as American Photography, Photo Era and Photo Miniature. In 1912, Weston met photographer Margrethe Mather in his Tropico studio. Mather becomes his studio assistant and most frequent model for the next decade. After moving back to California in 1926, Weston began his work for which he is most deservedly famous: natural forms, close-ups, nudes, and landscapes. Between 1927 and 1930, Weston made a series of monumental close-ups of seashells, peppers, and halved cabbages, bringing out the rich textures of their sculpture-like forms. Weston moved to Carmel, California in 1929 and shot the first of many photographs of rocks and trees at Point Lobos, California.

“To clearly express my feeling for life with photographic beauty, present objectively the texture, rhythm, form in nature, without subterfuge or evasion in technique or spirit, to record the quintessence of the object or element before my lens, rather than an interpretation, a superficial phase, or passing mood-- this is my way in photography.” So wrote Edward Weston in 1927, the year in which he made this still life composition. The skin of the fruit is rendered in precise detail, with the bruises and marks on the bananas becoming graphic strokes of the camera's "brush." The pocked surface of the citrus fruit is also clearly delineated, while the orange's center reveals an anomalous organic form. He uses bananas with bruises and he shows the deformed part of the orange. This speaks to his beliefs in photography and life, photos should not try to be perfect, just keep them the way they are, and they will be beautiful. Also the way that the bananas surround the orange, making it stand out more and contrast with the many bananas

This piece was chosen because photography has always been a way of capturing beauty in an instance, in a way of pausing that beauty forever. This piece has such contrast and the subject matter makes one stop and think. Most still lifes pause beauty with their color and portray perfect beautiful things. Yet this shows imperfections and lack of color, though it is still a way of showing life- imperfect and sometimes drained of color yet everyday has beauty in it. While the bananas may have bruises that also means they are ripe and ready, much like people being bruised yet ready for the next day. The underlying subject matter is why this piece was chosen; the picture stops it’s beauty in time and makes the viewer think beyond the piece. 

Still-life with Chair Caning

Pablo Picasso

Still-life with Chair Caning

Oil on oil-cloth over canvas edged with rope

29 × 37 cm

1912

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) created over 22,000 pieces of work during his career. These pieces included paintings, sculpture work, and a series of graphic design work which he had created over the course of his career. Over the extensive career, Picasso had a hand in every art form and movement that came through, during the 20th century. Not only that, he also co-founded cubism, which was one of the most popular movements during the 20th century, and was what he was most well-known for with most of the works he created. Comical and fantasy were the types of work that Picasso focused on, as his career moved forward, and as he drew closer to the end of his career. Graphic arts, ceramics, and sculpture work, were the methods that he drew on most, as opposed to painting and etched works, which were the predominant choices early on in his career. During this time, he produced thousands of stage designs, illustrations, and a series of drawings, which represented these themes, and distinct styles.

Compositionally, this image uses strong dark line to break up and segment the varying elements dissecting them. The viewer’s eye is drawn from the far left of the composition at the lettering, to roll around the circular shape created by the rope, to the bottom right, essentially beginning with the chair-caning and ending with it. The letters j.o.u can clearly be seen in the top left segment. There are various opinions of the significance of this with some suggesting it was Picasso's turn in a game between Picasso and Braque to include words and lettering into their art, or it may also have been playful attempt at establishing a talking point in the work itself. Compared to many other Cubist works this work is much smaller, however rather than just being a small art work, the size can create intimacy, inviting the viewer to get close and personal with the work to investigate the fine details contained within. Similar to Braque’s Woman With a Guitar and other Cubist works, Still-life with Chair Caning invites close inspection of the individual details as well as the artwork as a whole. Picasso's Still-life with Chair Caning marked a distinctive shift in Modern Art with the introduction of collage and the distinctive change in treatment of the subject through abstraction.

This piece was chosen because of its subject matter. Picasso’s work always causes one to stop and ponder, whether the viewer tries to focus on one part of the picture or moves from one subject to the other, the viewer tries to see the objects in a new light. It looks at some objects in a partial way, and others are viewed from different perspectives. Since still life looks at objects from a new viewpoint already, Picasso takes it to another dimension, showing the objects in a newer dimension that is not in a traditional sense. There is such contrast in the depiction of the objects, almost as if portraying life in a blur of reality and only memory. This still life embodies what still lifes try to do, and that is making the viewer pause and look at something differently, seeing beauty in simplicity or meaning in the everyday mundane

Still Life with a Chinese Porcelain Jar

Willem Kalf

Still Life with a Chinese Porcelain Jar

Oil on Canvas, Painting

30 3/4 x 26 in.

1669

Willem Kalf (1619-1693) was a student of Hendrik Pot, a painter of historical subjects, and probably also of the painter Cornelis Saftleven. Kalf chose still life as his subject matter, his earlier work depicted kitchen interiors with such elements as gourds and pots and pans strewn on the floor, whereas his later work was more elaborate- depicting luxurious compositions featuring such expensive and extraordinary objects as goblets, pewter, Venetian glass, and Chinese porcelain atop a marble or tapestry-covered table such as the one depicted here. His still life paintings used simple composition, dark background, and acutely perceived highlights.

            When Willem Kalf painted this luxurious still life, his home city of Amsterdam was the trading center of Europe. Persian textiles, tropical fruits, and Asian porcelains were just a few of the exotic commodities brought by intrepid Dutch seafarers to the bustling markets of the capital.

The precious objects assembled here are carefully arranged to celebrate both the painter's skill and the enterprising spirit of Holland's golden age. On a marble tabletop, polished Dutch silver reflects the sparkle of delicate Venetian glass, while a curling lemon peel teases the senses of smell and taste. Reflections animate the glossy surface of a Chinese export porcelain jar from the 1640s. The centerpiece of the composition is a Dutch roemer, or wine glass, with an elaborate gilded mount. At its base, a cherub clutches a cornucopia, symbolizing peace and plenty, but the rumpled carpet seems to offer only a precarious support. At left, a ticking watch signals the passage of time. While enjoying their worldly success, Dutch Calvinist burghers valued such reminders that their earthly prosperity was no substitute for eternal salvation

            This piece was chosen because of its depth in color and subject matter. The colors are somewhat dark causing the viewer to look deep at the painting, and from object to object slowly. The Chinese Jar grabs the attention first and then the viewer makes his way across the table. It appears that the objects are idly tossed across the table, yet there is a sense of precision and beauty. The glass and porcelain objects are expensive and yet used with everyday objects like a platter and fruit. It brings together the extraordinary and the ordinary into everyday life.

Conclusion

Through this experience as a curator, I have learned exactly what I find to be artistic. I looked at multiple pictures, paintings, and photographs and chose things that spoke to me. To me, art needs to define beauty, whether it is directly or indirectly. And through the process I found that seeing the beauty was easy for me, once something caught my attention I looked deeper into the beauty that it conveyed. What was harder was trying to find variety, I did not want the viewers to see the same pictures over and over again with the same style, because that isn't what I would want to see if I went to an exhibit. So as a curator I had to really seek beautiful Still Life art, and in different forms with some different mediums. From looking for variety and beauty I found that almost all the art I chose had some form of simplicity and yet depth. They all make the viewer stop and wonder why the painting was made and through that thinking it made me see that all  the artists were trying to show the viewer that there is more to the world around us, if we stop to look. That's exactly what all the pieces in this gallery do, they make the viewer stop and think and thus create individual emotion- simply put, an appreciation  for Still Life Art.