What is Still Life?
A painting or drawing of an arrangement of objects, typically including fruit and flowers and objects contrasting with these in texture, such as bowls and glassware.
What is Still Life photography?
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.
It has captured the imagination of photographers from the early 19th century to the present day. It is a tradition full of lavish, exotic and sometimes dark arrangements, rich with symbolic depth and meaning.
How did Still Life come about?
Still-life emerged as an independent genre, in particularly during the early 1600s Dutch and Northern European paintings. Many of the objects depicted in these early works are symbolic of religion and morality reflecting on the increasing urbanisation of Dutch and Flemish society, which brought with it an emphasis on the home and personal possessions, commerce and trade.
Traditionally, a still-life is a collection of inanimate objects arranged as the subject of a composition. Nowadays, a still-life can be anything from your latest Instagram latte art to a vase of tulips styled like a Dutch Golden Age painting.
What are some of the different categories of Still-Life?
There are many different catagroies. Examples include; Fruits, Flowers, Breakfast pieces, Trompe L’Oeil and Vanitas.
Here is a mood board of Still-Life including paintings and photographs, modern and old:
Still-Life today:
In traditional still-life arrangements, objects are carefully selected and ordered to create a visually pleasing or meaningful image. This tradition has continued in contemporary practice, with photographers using props, designing sets and constructing elaborate scenes to photograph.
Other photographers search for striking arrangements to provoke thought. These photographers see extraordinary pattern and meaning in everyday things. Some images are cluttered, but there is an implied order among the chaos.
Timeline of Still-Life photography:
Examples of Still-Life Photographers:
Mat Collishaw:
A perfect example of the old technique getting combined with modern-age ideas is Mat Collishaw’s Last Meal on Death Row series of works. Although they appear as meticulously arranged staged photography still-lifes of food, each image is actually based on death row inmates’ last meals before they are executed. Apart from the eerie subject, the pictures deliver a strong dramatic effect through an excellent use of chiaroscuro.
Richard Kuiper:
Think paintings by Pieter Claesz or Adriaen Coorte, only in plastic. That’s how one could describe the photographs of Richard Kuiper, whose objects are all made of this everlasting, widely used material, including water bottles, floral arrangements, even the feathers. The artist tries to draw our attention towards the excessive use of plastic in our everyday lives, with the hope we will be able to decrease it before it takes over completely.
Krista van der Niet:
On a much more lighter, even pastel note, we have Dutch photographer Krista van der Niet, whose compositions often include fruits and vegetables mixed with mundane objects such as socks, cloths and aluminium foil, giving it all a contemporary feel. Her photos often carry a dose of satire as well, which references consumerism and popular culture through a clever employment of objects within a carefully composed scenery.
What is Memento Mori?
Still-lifes that remind the viewer of the shortness and fragility of life and include symbols such as skulls, clocks, hourglasses and extinguished candles. (memento mori is a Latin phrase meaning ‘remember you must die’)
What are Vanitas?
A still-life of a 17th-century Dutch genre containing symbols of death or change as a reminder of their inevitability.
Vanitas grew out of the long artistic tradition known as the memento mori. Vanitas include other symbols as well as skulls etc, such as musical instruments, wine and books to remind us explicitly of the vanity of worldly pleasures and goods. Whereas memento moris are typically just skulls and extinguished candles liking directly to death.
Vanitas utilize the still-life form to show the fleeting quality of life and the vanity of living
What kind of metaphors and symbols are used in still-life and why?
10 common symbols in still life are:
Fruits- varying symbolism in still-life- offer a variety of religious and mythical symbols. For example, in Christianity, apples signify temptation and knowledge in reference to Eve eating the forbidden fruit. Grapes symbolise the themes of pleasure and lust associated with Bacchus, the Roman god of wine. Pomegranates are associated with Persephone, the Greek goddess of spring and queen of the underworld.
Skulls- the certainty or morality- a striking reminder of the certainty of death. Such a symbol is called a memento mori
Candles- the passing of time- represent the inevitability of the passing of time, the longer they burn, the smaller they get until there is nothing left. A lit candle symbolises light, truth, and knowledge. An extinguished candle symbolises loss and death.
Flowers- symbols of life and growth- a beautiful bouquet of flowers in full bloom can signify life, faith, growth, and power. Wilting flowers, on the other hand, serve as grim reminders that life, material goods, and beauty are fragile. Specific flowers have more specific meanings. For example, poisonous nightshade symbolises danger and deception, daisies symbolise innocence, poppies symbolise sleep or death, and a red rose symbolises love and seduction.
Seashells- birth, purity and fertility- in addition to being associated with femininity, seashells can symbolise birth and good fortune. In Christianity, seashells also symbolise baptism and resurrection. Pearls are symbols of purity and perfection. When hidden between the oyster’s shells, the pearl represents hidden knowledge and awareness.
Mirrors- the soul in reflection- they can represent either truth and self-assurance or vanity and distortion, the difference depends on who is looking at their reflection.
Insects- transformation and decay- as a group, insects symbolise greed or decay, but specific types of insects have their own associations. For example, butterflies represent transformation. When included alongside fruits or flowers, each insect draws attention to the impending decay of the fruit and flowers, which, due to the infestation, is already underway.
Musical instruments- beauty and transcience- they’re often included to show off the wealth of talent of a patron but they could also carry deeper meaning. In vanitas, a violin can remind viewers of the threads of time and the fact that all beautiful things must come to an end. Violin strings that are snapped or missing can indicate discord or death. The curving shapes of many instruments, such as the guitar, parallel the organic and seductive shapes of the human body.
Dead animals- contradiction and the hunt- during the Dutch Golden Age, hunting for sport became less exclusive to the wealthy, and international trade became more abundant. As a result, still life paintings of highly detailed hunting trophies and exotic animal carcasses were in very high demand. When depicted alongside other food items, dead animals could also represent the culinary specialties of a certain region or patron.
Silver and gold- luxury in still life paintings- may heighten the tension between materialism and morality.
Below are some of my images in the style ‘Still Life’ with a theme of nostalgia:
These photographs represent my recent relocation to Jersey. They symbolise where I came from (Hertfordshire, England) and where i’ve come too (Jersey). I used warm lighting in a few of them which I feel is representative to the topic as moving can be a big thing so its nice to feel some warmth and comfort after doing so and reflecting upon it all. I find the composition of my images comforting as you can clearly see each item and your eyes are taken on a nice journey through the different parts of the image. The composition helps to tell the story. I believe there is a sort of metaphor coming across in these images in that even though something like moving country can feel so big, it is in fact just a small part of your life.