What is still life ?
Still life photogrpahy is a genre of photography used for the depiction of inanimate subject matter, typically a small group of objects.
Richard Kuiper, Photographer
Image analysis:
- There are 15 objects in the photo all placed together and arranged.
- There is darkness behind them which implies emptiness.
- There is a skull which represents death and the objects around are very random.
- it creates a sense of oldness with the feather and ink.
- The gold vase along with the gold key, coins and gold stripes on the book represnt wealth.
- all the objects are plastic
- There is hight created by the aragment of the objects correlates to being a higher class.
- it is a vanitas.
The start of still life.
The painting generally considered to be the first still life is a work by the Italian painter Jacopo de’Barbari painted 1504. The “golden age” of still-life painting occurred in the Lowlands during the 17th century.
main still life artists from 1571-1954
-Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571 – 1610)
-Clara Peeters (1594 – 1657)
-Jacob Van Es (1596 – 1666)
-Pieter Claesz (1597 – 1661)
-Rachel Ruysch (1664 – 1750)
-Paul Cézanne (1839 – 1906)
-Paul Gauguin (1848 – 1903)
-Henri Matisse (1869 – 1954)
popular still life artist nowadays.
Michaël Borremans
Johnathon knowles
what is vanitas?
A vanitas contains a collection of objects symbolic of the inevitability of death and the transience and vanity of earthly achievements and pleasures.
response picture.
what is Memento Mori?
memento mori translation form latin 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.it is similar to a vanitas.
metaphors and symbols 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.
BIRDS: represent the resurrection of the soul after death.
BOOKS: they mean learning or transmitting knowledge.
Johnathon Knowles response shoot.
When analysing a photo, try to add a little more depth by using fuller sentences
. E.g. you mentioned there were 15 objects, which links to the rule of odds (an odd number, rather than an even number will produce a more interesting, and visually pleasing composition).
You mentioned that the emptiness of the space behind – how does this link to vanitas?
What can we take from the objects being plastic?
You don’t have to come up with these answers on your own- research the photos more to enhance your answers.