A still life is a drawing or painting of objects arranged in a composition. Traditionally, the objects depicted had symbolic meanings representing concepts like life, death, beauty, and decay. Still life paintings use techniques like shading, value scales, and layering of foreground, mid-ground and background elements to create a sense of depth, volume and mass. In the 1800s, artists like Manet and Cezanne enhanced the mood and symbolism of still life works through loose brushwork, textures and manipulated light. Their impressionistic styles influenced later artists to portray the world in a more creative, gestural manner.

1. BY
MARIE MAX-FRITZ

2. What is a still life?
• A still life is a drawing or painting of objects. Originally, these
objects had a symbolic meaning that represented life, death,
beauty, and decay.
• This has been a style of drawing and painting images since the
Classic Roman time-period.
• Still life images have a foreground, mid-ground, and background.
– This is the layering of objects in front of each other to create depth.
– Shading the images with types of value scales creates a sense of
volume and mass in the objects.
• As a whole, the image becomes dimensional and the art element of
movement is presented in the picture.

3. Brief History and Background:
• A still life is a display of objects that narrate an idea or create a
mood. Still life subject matter is intended to tell a story. To tell the
story, artists use objects that relate to each other or have a
symbolic meaning and apply colors and hues to help set the mood.
• Since the classical period in ancient Rome to the Puritan era of
early America, still life paintings were descriptive in meaning and
symbolism surrounding life, death, and eternity. In Latin terms, this
is called 'memento mori' or, translated, 'remember your mortality'.
• Vanitas art is a style within this art genre also known as funerary
art. This was primarily a Dutch form of art in the 1600s and was
devoted to narrating a story through symbolic imagery that focused
on life, beauty, death, and decay.
• This style is also referred to as funerary art and represented
humankind's mortality and painted with high contrast and dark
color schemes (chromas) .

4. Highlights

5. Shadows

6. DRAWING A STILL LIFE

7. Sphere in pencil with value scale

8. Solid Cross
hatch
Ellipse Mass
and
Volume

9. Practice Sheet

12. Still Life in Pencil
Foreground, mid-ground, and background
Is there mass and volume, light and shadow?

14. STILL LIFE IN THE 1800’S
In the 1800s, French artists continued the symbolic and narrative style in the
themes of their paintings This style was best portrayed by EdouardManet and Paul
Cezanne with their loosely arranged fresh cut flowers or tables that were bountiful
with foods.
These artists began to use color and texture to increase the moodiness or
characteristics of the still life subject matter. The meaning or symbolism of still life
paintings were being enhanced with manipulated gestural brush strokes, textures,
and light qualities.
They influenced the world of painted imagery by allowing the nature of the
medium and utensils to compliment the symbolic nature of the scene. This, in turn,
was the birth of a style of painting that allowed gesture and color to produce the
illusion of space, form, and volume. Their paintings reflected a new way to see and
portray the world around them. This became known as Impressionism.

15. Grapes, Peaches and Almonds by EdouardManet

16. Still Life With a Curtainby Paul Cezanne

17. MODERN
Also, Giorgio Morandi (early 1900s) painted with
very low intensity and added a hazy softness to a
still life. More recently, artists, namely Wayne
Thiebaud, creatively reproduced foods that were
common and appreciated by society in a manner
that was much like the Impressionists. His style of
painting is thick with paint, loosely blended, and
rich with color and light, yet imagery is
recognizable. Through this gestural brush strokes,
intensity of colors, and varieties in contrast,
paintings seem to possess an individual life and
personality that is unique to the subject that is
rendered.

18. Giorgio Morandi

19. Wayne Thiebaud Cupcakes

20. References
Bibliography/References:
Kuhl, Isabel. (2009) Impressionism. New York: Parragon
Oceana Books. (2003). The painting handbook. London: Quantum Publishing Ltd.
Quantum Books. (2003). The great masters. London: Quantum Publishing Ltd.
Rodriquez, Susan. (2007). Art smart, Pearson Education
Artists and Terms:
•Cezanne, Paul
•Chroma
•Manet, Edouard
•Momentomori
•Morandi, Giorgio
•Thiebaud, Wayne
•Vanitas