Here, I analysed a photo by Richard Kuiper. The main thing I picked up from this image is how many of the objects point towards the skull, the most prominent object in the scene. It almost leads the eye towards the main subject, giving it a more powerful feel.
Below is a plan to help with my image analysis:
Here I test the effects of changing the shutter and aperture of the camera simulator on exposure and motion blur. For this text I kept the ISO at 1600 as a control. Also Increasing the ISO too much can effect the noise of the image.
Notice how the background is blurred because the aperture is large (low f stop) meaning lots of light can enter the sensor, but its less focused.
Notice how the propeller how little motion blur, that is because the sensor is only open for a short amount of time. This means it captures less light but fast moving object will have less motion blur.
Still Life originated in the Netherlands in the 1600s (first flourished there).
Still life was heavily impacted by Dutch colonialism, which saw the transportation of exotic fruit and objects. Displaying these objects in still life became a symbol of wealth and value.
Still life art could be used to document and symbolise historical moments where culture is brought to another country.
What is Vanitas?
Vanitas is a still-life painting genre that uses symbolism to show the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death. It began in the 16th century and carried on into the 17th century.
What is Memento Mori?
Memento Mori is an artistic or symbolic trope acting as a reminder of the inevitability of death. As well as that it is a latin phrase meaning ‘remember you must die’. A basic Memento Mori painting would be portrait with a skull, but other symbols commonly found are hour glasses or clocks, extinguished e.g. guttering candles, fruit, and flowers.
What kind of metaphors and symbols are used in still life and why? (Include connections to trade, slavery, colonialism, wealth, status…)
The kind of metaphors and symbols used in still life are
In this painting above the fruit, cheese and other items may represent the transportation of new foreign goods being documented in history. The cheese could be transported from France, the grapes and peach presented harvested in Europe and the wine could also be transported from another side of Europe.
The still life presents humanly and materialistic pleasure such as pairing wine with cheese and grapes, something that Is often paired together in modern day similarly to the paintings layout of items portrayed out.
Laura Letinsky Artist Reference/ Image Analysis:
Laura Letinsky (60 years old and currently based in Chicago, Illinois) is an artist and professor ( Department of Visual Arts) in University of Chicago. She has exhibitions around the states. Laura started her photography journey in the 90s through still life and brought her ideas of food and still life considered as “feminine due to it’s affiliation with home and domesticity”.
It is obvious to the audience that this photograph is taken in the 21st century, as the colour, style and articulation of the background and the objects is much more different in comparison to the 20th century stiff life.
Laura Letinsky is driven by the articulation of “accidents, control and contrivance”. She found her inspiration “after breakfast, look to her plates for raw materials and set her camera up in the kitchen”. Laura took food as her main subject and created artistic displays of the free roaming “mess”, instead of the classical 20th century creative object and cuisine display with dark and classic backgrounds.
In this painting the fruit, cheese and other items may represent the transportation of new foreign goods being documented in history. The cheese could be transported from France, the grapes and peach presented harvested in Europe and the wine could also be transported from another side of Europe.
The still life presents humanly and materialistic pleasure such as pairing wine with cheese and grapes, something that Is often paired together in modern day similarly to the paintings layout of items portrayed out.
Image Analysis:
In the first week of starting A-Levels we focused on image analysis and the visual and technical components of the image and it can be influenced by the camera. When looking at the Visual element of the photograph I looked at the composition of the subjects in the photograph, if there is an odd number of subjects to make the photograph appear interesting and unique. When looking at the technical elements we focused on how the manual modes play a part in the shadows, lighting and quality of the photograph through the lens. The image was taken in natural daylight and taken in a position when the depth of field is long so every detail of the image is clear and easy to observe.
Still life is a genre of art that depicts inanimate objects in a still frame. This usually comes with deeper context or meaning behind the objects that have been placed there. For example, skulls are used to symbolise death, exotic foods like fruit are used to demonstrate wealth, and books are used for knowledge.
Still Life started in the 16th century, with Dutch painters like Pieter Aertsen, who pictured objects like expensive cheese, exotic fruit and various luxury items. This was done to show off the wealth of the painter and of his country.
16th century painting by Pieter Aertsen from the Netherlands
17th century painting by Willem Kalf from the Netherlands
18th century painting by Anne Vallayer-Coster from France
19th century painting by Vincent Van Gogh from the Netherlands
20th century painting by Salvadore Dali from Spain
The photos in this post all come from a 21st century photographer who is called Paulette Tavormina. She is a modern American artist that mainly focuses on replicating the essence of Still Life images. She uses similar techniques to the originators of the genre, in this photo using meats, bronze pots and other items that were considered “luxury” for the time. This also links to colonialism at the time as well, as exotic items usually came from far away countries that were colonised by countries like the Netherlands, France or England. Also in this photo, there is a sense of emptiness. There is no background. This is an example of Vanitas, the essence of emptiness. She uses this frequently in her Still Life photos.
The objects depicted in still life photos are used either to depict metaphors or because they visually have a nice shape and reflect well with light. For example, the apples and cherries in the photo above have a nice reflection that compliment their round shape and smooth texture.
This is another example of Still Life, from a Dutch painter named Willem Kalf. In the photo, there are gold items, exotic fruits and various other items that could be seen as wealth, such as the rug that sits scrunched up and almost neglected underneath all of the items. This could be to show that the owner of these items, either the painter or a wealthy person of the time, has enough money to neglect these luxurious objects.
Skulls/bones – used to depict death, the marching of time. This is usually made with the use of memento mori, the reminder of death
Flowers – romantic values, beauty
Food – fruits are used to depict wealth, meat is used to depict strength or integrity
Books – used to depict knowledge and high intelligence
Valuables – items like golden necklaces or rings, any item that looks expensive, is used to demonstrate power and wealth
Introduction to A-level Photography Quiz
Q1: What is the etymology (origin & history) of the word photography?
Q2: What year was the first photograph made in camera?
Q3: When did the first photograph of a human appear?
Q4: Who made the first ‘selfie’
Q5: When did the first colour photograph appear?
Q6: What do we mean by the word genre?
Q7: What do we mean by the genre of still-life?
Q8: What was the main purpose of the Pictorialist movement?
Q9: How do we describe the term documentary photography?
Q10: What is exposure in photography?
Q11: What controls exposure on your camera?
Q12: What control on our camera records moving objects?
Q13: How do we explain depth of field?
Q14: What factors affect Depth of Field?
Q15: What is composition in photography?
Q16: What is your understanding of aesthetics in art?
Q17: What are contextual studies in photography?
Q18: How many images are captured on average every day worldwide?
Q19: Which portrait is the most reproduced in the world?
What is Still Life?
Still life is 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. It is also a work of art that shows inanimate objects from the natural or man-made world, such as fruit, flowers, dead game, and/or vessels like baskets or bowls.
Fernando Botero Angulo was a Colombian figurative artist and sculptor from Medellín. His signature style, also known as “Boterismo”, depicts people and figures in large, exaggerated volume, which can represent political criticism or humor, depending on the piece. This style is shown through his still life photos by using large fruit with large abnormal objects to show uniqueness and creativity.
Here is some of Fernando Botero’s best still life work that he has produced over the years!
Another really important and famous artist is Caravaggio. He was a divisive and important Italian painter. He was abandoned when he was 11 years old and trained with an artist in Milan. He relocated to Rome, where his art became well-known for the tenebrism method he employed, which used shadow to highlight brighter regions. His success, unfortunately, was brief. Caravaggio departed Rome after killing a person in a scuffle.
Caravaggio with his Basket of Fruit gave still life new dignity, by putting it on the same level as figurative painting. Caravaggio didn’t search for aesthetically pleasing representations, but he searched for reality, because to him painting meant to accept life as it is, without decorations and with all its imperfections. It looks like he has the basket of fruit on the rule of thirds which shows that is the main focus.
What is Vanitas?
Vanitas is a still-life painting of a 17th-century Dutch genre containing symbols of death or change as a reminder of their inevitability. Here are some examples.
What is Memento Mori?
Memento Mori is an object kept as a reminder of the inevitability of death, such as a skull. Memento mori is a Latin phrase meaning ‘remember 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.
Some Metaphors and Symbols used in still life would be:
Fruit: Varying Symbolism In Still Life Paintings.
Candles: The Passing of Time.
Seashells: Birth, Purity, And Fertility.
Insects: Transformation And Decay.
Dead Animals: Contradiction And The Hunt.
Trade/Slavery/Colonialism: Shown through objects they used or materials they used/picked e.g. cotton.
American photographer (born in 1949) Paulette Tavormina is famous for her 17th century inspired still life photography, similar to Giovanna Garzoni and Maria Sibylla Merian paintings. She lives and works in the chaotic city of New York, yet manages to capture stillness in her work. Her arrangements often recall the sumptuous detail of seventeenth century Old Master still life painters and serve as intensely personal interpretations of timeless, universal stories.
Mat Collishaw’s Last Meal on Death Row series uses old techniques combined with modern aged ideas. Each meal is actually a meal people on death row have had as a last meal. This creates a melancholy effect mix with the eerie stillness of the image.
“A basket of fruit” by Caravaggio – painting
“Living Still Life” by Salvador Dali
a still-life painting of a 17th-century Dutch genre containing symbols of death or change as a reminder of their inevitability. It often uses skulls, dead plants and an overall messy collection of objects:
an object kept as a reminder of the inevitability of death, such as a skull.
