Still Life Still life is an ancient art form which predates almost any other.
This art form depicts an arrangement of inanimate objects, hence the 'still' Traditionally a still life artwork would be fruit, food, flowers or dead animals hence the 'life'. However it was not until the asses that still life truly became an independent art form. Still life was used to depict images of religious, usually Christian, iconography. They were not considered to be as important as religious scenes from the bible or portraits.
However into the 19th century still life began gaining more and more popularity. Images were often used in traditional still life to represent religious iconography. This trend was common during the Renaissance, in the asses - asses; skulls were often paired with symbols of time such as candles, hour glasses and objects of wealth. These were called Vanities paintings. They were symbolic of the fleeting nature of life's earthly pleasures' (Lied, 2000) by the late 18th century dramatic changes were taking place to make way for a new era of art movements the first of which was romanticism.The movement took hold of Europe and quickly spread across the esters world.
Romantic artists were interested in the natural world, their passions and inner struggles, the imaginative mind, and rebellion against established social rules and conventions. Many later art movements of the 19th century have firm roots which go back to romanticism. The still life Skulls on a table by Albert Janis van deer Chord is a classic example of the popular genre of renaissance still life. The skulls which are a reminder of death are in the foreground and are the focal point of the painting.A few decaying flowers of a faded pink coloring lie across the table hemoglobin the fragility of life and human mortality. While in the background an hour glass and a candle melting away can be seen.
These are both symbols of time. The ultimate message of the painting to the viewer is to not waste one's life by placing importance on mortal instruments and objects of wealth. The idea is to signify the fragility of life and to remind us that it will come to an end Just as a flower will wither and die.Albert Janis Van deer Chord, Skulls on a Table Albert Janis Van deer Chord, Skulls on a Table During the 19th century still life painting remained a popular genre, although it was till largely regarded as insignificant compared with religious scenes and portraits. However the invention of photography liberated artists from the constraints of creating photo realistic paintings.
Instead they became infatuated with the experimentation of color and shapes and the application of paint to the canvas. 'Artists could paint in any way they wanted as long as the result worked. (Still Life: A history) Vincent Van Gogh, now one of the world's most famous impressionist artists was one of the first artists who painted objects with personal meaning; he painted or himself and only sold one painting in his life. His still life; A Pair of Shoes, depicts an 010 pall AT worn Dots In ark tones set gallant a lighter Docudrama .
Nils creates depth and gives a certain glow to the shoes. There has been much debate as to whether the shoes belonged to Van Gogh himself or someone else.Some critics speculate the shoes are a 'self-portrait' of the artist, as a traveling city man, while others believe the well-worn laces, deeply creased leather and tattered cuffs of the shoes tell the story of the peasant's life. Vincent Van Gogh; 'A Pair of Shoes' Modernism lasted from 1960 to 1970 and gave way to postmodernism, which is the present era. Post Modernism refers to a collection of ideas and trends rather than an actual art movement; successful postmodern artworks are more often about concepts rather than the visual presentation.
Postmodern artists are not confined to one art style like their fellow artists of the renaissance and modernist eras. Postmodernists often use a collaboration of canvas and imaging materials, appropriating past works, putting them in different contexts. Fauna Hall is a postmodern artist who uses these cuisines. Her exhibition Understood employs the use of thousands of tiny glass beads and silver wire to create three dimensional sculptures of plant and human material.Hall contrasts the interrelationships between life and death. 'The work contrasts two views of the tropical environment: the eighteen and nineteenth century notion of the equatorial forest, or Jungle as a site of luxuriance, fecundity/adventure (and also zealous hunting for plant and animal specimens); and the contemporary reality of ongoing civil unrest and the displacement of people from traditional oratories due to land clearance, arbitration and the political after effects of colonization.
(Fauna Hall, notes 2001)Hall, like Chord uses the skull motif as a representation of the fragility and transient nature of life. The concept of still life is an ever changing art form with an abundant thriving history. Over the centuries artist have questioned, pushed, pulled and promoted the concept. Today still life is very different from renaissance times and can be defined as an arrangement of inanimate objects placed by the artist to provoke conscious and subconscious Hough or to Just reflect the world around them.
