Still life
What is still life?
Still life photography is a genre of photography used for the depiction of inanimate subject matter, typically a small group of objects. Similar to still life painting, it is the application of photography to the still life artistic style.
The history of still-life photography
Where did it start?
Still-life photography’s origins reside in the early 20th century. Art photographers emerged such as Baron Adolf de Meyer. The Baron was known for his highly artistic approach to photography, as he employed darkroom techniques and used soft-focus lenses to create photographs that looked like drawings, which was fashionable at the time.
Emil Otto Hoppé is an esteemed British photographer who is known primarily for his portrait photography and travel photography, but he also produced wonderful still-life photography in the 1920s, with a handcrafted style, comparable to Baron Adolf de Meyer’s.
Modernist still-life photography
Jumping ahead a few decades, still life became modern in both subject matter and technology. What all Modernist movements have in common is a rejection of the past and the idea that they can make art objectively better by using unconventional approaches, which is what we can see when comparing early-20th Century and mid-20th Century still life-photography.
Man Ray was an American visual artist who was involved in different art media and was a prominent figure in the Dada and Surrealist movements. Man Ray reinvented the wheel when it came to still-life photography. He pioneered innovative techniques in photography, and he also took new approaches to still-life.
Contemporary still-life photography
Fast-forward to the 21st Century and many photographers working today are continuing in the tradition of Man Ray and representing still-life in their photographic art, with many excellent examples of still-life photography to look at.
What is Vanitas?
A vanitas painting contains collections of objects symbolic of the inevitability of death and the transience and vanity of earthly achievements and pleasures.
What is Memento Mori?
The Latin phrase memento mori literally means, “Remember that you must die.” A basic memento mori painting would be a portrait with a skull but other symbols commonly found are hour glasses or clocks, extinguished or guttering candles, fruit, and flowers. Closely related to the memento mori picture is the vanitas still life.
Metaphors and symbols used in still life:
FRUIT: Varying Symbolism In Still Life Paintings
SKULLS: The Certainty Of Mortality.
CANDLES: The Passing Of Time.
FLOWERS: Symbols Of Life And Growth.
SEASHELLS: Birth, Purity, And Fertility.