Still Life

Examples of Still Life in the following topics:

• Still-Life Painting

  • Still-life painting flourished during the Golden Age of the Dutch Republic.
  • Early still-lifes were relatively brightly lit, with bouquets of flowers arranged in a simple way.
  • Virtually all still-lifes had a moralistic message, usually concerning the brevity of life.
  • Initially, the subjects of still-life paintings were typically mundane; however, beginning in the mid-century, the pronkstilleven ("ostentatious still-life"), showing expensive and exotic objects, became more popular.
  • Bosschaert was an early still-life painter who established a dynasty of flower painters.

• Flemish Painting in the Baroque Period

  • These genres included history, portraiture, genre, landscape, and still life paintings.
  • Floral still life painting was widespread in 17th century Flanders, popularized by Brueghel the Elder around 1600.
  • Other subjects or subcategories of still life painting included the banquet still life, the animal still life, and garland scenes.
  • Still life paintings often had an underlying moralistic message concerning the brevity of life, a trait exemplified by the ‘vanitas'.
  • A ‘vanitas' is a symbolic still life painting that is meant to illustrate the meaninglessness of earthly life and the transience of all earthly pursuits.

• Art for Aristocrats

  • It focused on scenes from everyday life, including landscapes, still life, and genre painting.
  • Toward the mid-1500s Pieter Aertsen, later followed by his nephew Joachim Beuckelaer, established a type of "monumental still life" featuring large spreads of food with genre figures, and in the background small religious of moral scenes.
  • Pieter Bruegel the Elder was well-known for his depictions of nature and everyday life, with a preference for the natural condition of man, and his numerous depictions of peasants instead of the princes.

• Themes in Art

  • This message is usually about life, society or human nature.
  • Deep thematic content is not required in a visual work; however, some observers would say that all visual work inherently projects some kind of outlook on life that can be taken as a theme, regardless of whether or not this is the intent of the author.
  • Common genres in painting, for example, include history painting, portrait painting, landscape painting, and still life.

• Modern Life

  • Impressionist painters captured genre scenes of contemporary life, demolishing the traditional hierarchy of subject matter in painting.
  • Historical subjects, religious themes, and portraits were valued (landscape and still life were not), and the Académie preferred carefully finished images that looked realistic when examined closely.
  • The Impressionists captured ordinary subjects, specially the pastimes of modern life.
  • In their genre scenes of contemporary life, these artists tried to arrest a moment in their fast-paced lives by pinpointing specific atmospheric conditions—light flickering on water, moving clouds, city lights falling over dancing couples .
  • Discuss the radical nature of capturing everday modern life by early Impressionist painters.

• The Rite of Passage

  • The rite of passage, still practiced by some Africans today, is a traditional ceremony in which a person enters into a new phase of life.
  • The rite of passage is typically a ceremonial event in which a person enters into a new phase of life, such as puberty or marriage.
  • While many rituals and ceremonies are still practiced today, many Africans - especially those in more urban areas - no longer practice them.
  • Similar to the Xhosa, the Balanta have initiation rites to mark each phase of a person's life and his or her progressive entrance into a new social category.
  • According to the World Health Organization, it is still practiced in 28 countries in western, eastern, and north-eastern Africa.

• The Neopalatial Period

  • Minoan art suggests that the people felt a close connection to nature, as many of the scenes painted on walls and pots are of the natural world, including plants, animals, birds, and marine life .
  • The numerous examples of bull imagery in Minoan culture point to the significance of the animal, but its precise cultural significance for the Minoans is still unknown.
  • In 1450 BCE another cataclysmic event, perhaps an earthquake or the volcanic eruption on Thera, once more disrupted Minoan life.

• The Tea Ceremony

  • Sen Rikyū (1522 - 1591) is perhaps the most well-known and still revered figure in the history of the tea ceremony.
  • The principles he set forward—harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility—are still central to the tea ceremony today.
  • "Wabi" represents the inner spiritual experiences of human life.
  • "Sabi," on the other hand, represents the outer material side of life.
  • These hand-moulded and glazed vessels have become intimately connected with the tea ceremony and are still in use to the present day.

• Japanese Art after World War II

  • After World War II, Japanese artists became preoccupied with the mechanisms of urban life and moved from abstraction to anime-influenced art.
  • After World War II, painters, calligraphers, and printmakers flourished in the big cities—particularly Tokyo—and became preoccupied with the mechanisms of urban life, reflected in the flickering lights, neon colors, and frenetic pace of their abstractions.
  • Some artists within this style still painted on silk or paper with traditional colors and ink, while others used new materials, such as acrylics.
  • Many other older schools of art were still practiced, most notably those of the Edo and prewar periods.

• Mesolithic Art

  • Still, food was not always available everywhere, and Mesolithic populations were often forced to become migrating hunters and still settle in rock shelters.
  • The native Mesolithic populations were slow in gradually assimilating the agricultural way of life, beginning with just the use of ceramics.