a life stilled
DESCRIPTION
A Life Stilled. In Transit - Isobel , 1999. acrylic on masonite . 106.7 x 48.2 cm. Project Plan. Select an individual or social issue that means a great deal to you: Relative, Friend, World Leader Poverty, Health, Violence, Environment, etc - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
A Life Stilled
In Transit - Isobel, 1999. acrylic on masonite. 106.7 x 48.2 cm
Project Plan
• Select an individual or social issue that means a great deal to you:– Relative, Friend, World Leader– Poverty, Health, Violence, Environment, etc
• Gather items that represent that person/issue– The physical items are preferable over a photo or
internet image• Create a still-life that captures that person’s character,
moment in their life, or message of social importance
History• Still-life painting as an independent genre first
flourished in the Netherlands during the early 1600s• The rise of still-life painting in the Northern and
Spanish Netherlands reflects the increasing urbanization of Dutch and Flemish society
• Response: Why would increased urbanization result in a rise in still-life?
• Citation: The Metropolis Museum of Art• Liedtke, Walter. "Still-Life Painting in Northern Europe, 1600–
1800 ". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/nstl/hd_nstl.htm (October 2003)
Example: Dutch Still-life• One of the earliest dated
still lifes by Claesz.• A Haarlem painter who gave
extraordinary presence to familiar things.
• “Here a skull, an overturned glass roemer, an expired lamp, and the attributes of a writer, suggest that worldly efforts are ultimately in vain.”
• Response: What about these details “suggest that worldly efforts are ultimately in vain”?
• Still Life with a Skull and a Writing Quill, 1628Pieter Claesz (Dutch)Oil on wood; 24.1 x 35.9 cmRogers Fund, 1949
Example: Post-Impressionist Still-life• Cézanne‘s unique methods
influenced the art of Cubists, Fauvists, and successive generations of avant-garde artists.
• Instead of light and shadow, he experimented with subtly gradated colour variations to create dimension in his objects.
• Ignores the laws of classical perspective, allowing each object to be independent within the space of a picture – The Metropolis Museum of Art
• Voorhies, James. "Paul Cézanne (1839–1906)". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/pcez/hd_pcez.htm (October 2004)
• Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses, 1890. Paul Cézanne (French,) Oil on canvas; 73 x 92.4 cm. Bequest of Sam A. Lewisohn, 1951
Inspiration: E. Nancy Stevens
• “IN TRANSIT is my autobiography. The paintings and drawings, ideas and images, are an exploration of the nature of experience and the unknowables of existence.”– From “Description of
Exhibit” http://www.enancystevens.ca
• In Transit – Edith, 1999, acrylic on masonite, 106.7 x 48.2cm
E. Nancy Stevens
• Nancy Stevens switches between realism and abstraction, but all her work is about ordering experience.
• Her father died during the Second World War. “A lot of things happened in my early life, so order is how I coped”
• http://thechronicleherald.ca/thenovascotian/1162697-at-the-galleries-order-imagination-unite-in-stevens-artwork
Education/Training• Studied with Alex Colville at
Mount Allison University (1953-56). Mary Pratt was a fellow student and friend.
• Year of study in Montreal with Arthur Lismer of the Group of Seven
• Worked as a graphic artist doing illustrative promotions at the CBC
• Taught at NSCAD from 1990-97 STFX from 1996- recent retirement
Arthur Lismer, “Bright Lands”, 1938
Alex Colville, “Horse and Train”, 1954
Mary Pratt, “Bowl’d Banana “, 1981
Iconography in “William”• Book: Canadians in Khaki
= he fought in the Boer War
• Railway watch = his work for CNR
• Spoon = souvenir from his travels as a youth
• Apple = wisdom, knowledge, goodness
• Citation: McElroy, Gil. “Falling From Grace” Nancy Stevens: In-Transit. Charlottetown: Confederation Centre Art Gallery & Museum, 2001, p.13
• In Transit – William, 1999, acrylic on masonite, 106.7 x 48.2cm
Iconography in “An Apple A Day”• Apple = Christian and educational
values• Chocolate = wealth, gluttony,
corruption of the healthy apple• Apple sticker = number of dead in
the earthquake. Our consumption of this tragedy.
• Copper fork = Chile’s main export• Glass objects = a glass wall through
which the apples view the Chilean earthquake; the voyeuristic distance.
• Knife = violence aimed towards the “outside world”
• Newspaper = sensationalization of world events
• Ryan Josey. An Apple a Day, 2010, oil on canvas. ~16x20
• http://www.ednet.ns.ca/pdfdocs/curriculum/Artists_in_Schools_2011-12-Broch.pdf