Still life in painting - images of static inanimate objects combined in a single ensemble. Still life can be represented as an independent painting, but sometimes it becomes part of the composition of the genre scene or the whole picture.
What is a still life?
Such painting is expressed in the subjective attitude of man to the world. This shows the master’s understanding of beauty, which becomes the embodiment of social values and the aesthetic ideal of the time. Still life in painting gradually transformed into a separate significant genre. This process took more than one hundred years, and each new generation of artists understood the canvas and color according to the trends of the era.
The role of a still life in the composition of the picture is never limited to simple information, a random addition to the main content. Depending on historical conditions and social demands, objects can take a more or less active part in creating a composition or hotel image, obscuring a particular goal. Still life in painting as an independent genre is designed to reliably convey the beauty of things that daily surround a person.
Sometimes an individual detail or element suddenly acquires a deep meaning, gets its own meaning and sound.
Story
As an old and revered genre, a still life in painting knew ups and dizzying falls. The austere, ascetic and minimalistic Byzantine style helped create immortal monumental generalized sublime heroic images. Sculptors with extraordinary expressiveness enjoyed the image of individual objects. Types of still life in painting and all kinds of classifications originated during the formation of art history, although the paintings existed long before the first textbook was written.
Icon-painting traditions and still lifes
In the ancient Russian icon painting, those few things that the artist dared to introduce into the strict laconicism of canonical works played an important role. They contribute to the manifestation of everything direct and demonstrate the expression of feelings in a work devoted to an abstract or mythological plot.
Types of still life in painting exist separately from icon-painting works, although the strict canon does not prohibit the depiction of some objects inherent in the genre.
Renaissance still life
Nevertheless, works of the XV-XVI centuries in the Renaissance play an important role. The painter first drew attention to the world around him, sought to determine the significance of each element in the service of mankind.
Modern painting, still life as a popular and beloved genre originated in the Tricento period. Household items acquired a certain nobility and significance of the owner whom they served. On large canvases, a still life, as a rule, looks very modest and discreet - a glass jar of water, a silver elegant vase or delicate lilies on thin stems often huddled in the dark corner of the picture, like poor and forgotten relatives.
Nevertheless, in the image of beautiful and close things there was so much love in poetic form that modern painting, still life and its role in it already timidly peered through the gaps of landscapes and heavy portieres of genre scenes.
Crucial moment
The subjects received a real element in the paintings and a new meaning in the 17th century - in the era when the still life with flowers prevailed and dominated. This kind of painting has gained many admirers among the nobility and clergy. In complex compositions with a pronounced literary storyline, the scenes got their place along with the main characters. Analyzing the works of the era, it is easy to see that the important role of still life is similarly manifested in literature, theater and sculpture. Things began to "act" and "live" in these works - they were shown as the main characters, demonstrating the best and most beneficial aspects of objects.
Objects of art made by hardworking and talented masters bear the personal imprint of thoughts, desires, drives of a particular person. Still life with flowers, painting better than all psychological tests help to track the psycho-emotional state and achieve inner harmony and integrity.
Things faithfully serve a person, taking over his enthusiasm for household items and inspiring owners to acquire new beautiful, elegant little things.
Flemish renaissance
Gouache painting, still life as a genre, people did not immediately accept. The history of the appearance, development and widespread adoption of various ideas and principles serves as a reminder of the constant development of thought. Still life became famous and came into fashion in the middle of the 17th century. The life line of the genre began in the Netherlands, a vibrant and festive Flanders, where nature itself is conducive to beauty and fun.
Gouache painting, still lifes flourished in full bloom during the time of enormous changes, the complete change of political, social and religious institutions.
Flanders current
The bourgeois direction of the development of Flanders became a novelty and progress for the whole of Europe. Changes in political life led to similar innovations in culture - the horizons that opened up for artists were no longer limited to religious prohibitions and were not supported by relevant traditions.
Still life as a genre of painting has become the flagship of the new art, singing everything natural, bright and beautiful. The strict canons of Catholicism no longer held back the flight of imagination and curiosity of painters, and therefore, along with art, science and technology began to develop.
Ordinary household things and objects, previously considered vile and unworthy of mention, immediately ascended to the objects of close study. Decorative painting, still life and landscapes have become a real mirror of life - the daily routine, diet, culture, ideas about the beautiful.
Genre Features
It is from here, from a conscious, in-depth study of the surrounding world, that a separate genre of everyday painting, landscape, and still life developed.
Art, which acquired certain canons in the 17th century, determined the main quality of the genre. The painting, dedicated to the world of things, describes the basic properties inherent in the objects that surround a person, shows the attitude of the master and his hypothetical contemporary to what is shown, expresses the nature and completeness of knowledge about reality. The artist necessarily conveyed the material existence of things, their volume, weight, textures, colors, the functional purpose of household items and their vital connection with human activities.
Tasks and problems of still life
Decorative painting, still life and everyday scenes absorbed new trends of the era - the departure from the canons and the preservation of the conservative naturalism of the image.
Still life of the revolutionary era of the time of the complete victory of the bourgeoisie reflects the artist’s respect for new forms of compatriots’s national life, respect for the work of simple artisans, admiration for beautiful images of beauty.
The problems and tasks of the genre formulated in the 17th century as a whole were not discussed in European schools until the middle of the 19th century. Meanwhile, artists constantly set themselves new and new tasks, and did not continue to mechanically reproduce ready-made compositional solutions and color schemes.
Modern paintings
Photos of still lifes for painting, prepared in modern studios, clearly demonstrate the difference between the perception of the world by a contemporary and a man of the Middle Ages. The dynamics of objects today exceed all conceivable limits, and the statics of objects was the norm for that time. Color combinations of the 17th century are distinguished by brightness and purity of color. Saturated shades harmoniously fit into the composition and emphasize the idea and idea of the artist. The absence of any canons did not in the best way affect the still lifes of the 20th and 21st centuries, sometimes striking the imagination with their ugliness or deliberate diversity.
Methods for solving the problems of still life are rapidly changing every decade, methods and techniques do not keep pace with the imagination of recognized and not very masters.
The value of today's paintings is the expression of reality through the eyes of contemporary artists; through embodiment, new worlds appear on canvas that can tell a lot about their creators to the people of the future.
The impact of impressionism
The next milestone in the history of still lifes was impressionism. The whole evolution of the direction was reflected in the compositions through colors, technique and understanding of space. The last romance of the millennium transferred life to the canvas as it is - fast, vibrant touches and expressive details became the cornerstones of style.
Painting, still lifes of contemporary artists will certainly bear the imprint of inspirational impressionists through color, methods and image techniques.
Moving away from the standard canons of classicism - three plans, a central composition and historical heroes - allowed artists to develop their own perception of color and light, as well as to easily and clearly demonstrate the free flight of emotions to the audience.
The main tasks of the Impressionists are to change the painting technique and the psychological content of the picture. And today, even knowing the situation of that era, it is difficult to find the right answer to the question of why the impressionist landscapes, as joyful and unsophisticated as poems, caused sharp rejection and rude ridicule of discerning critics and enlightened public.
Impressionist painting did not fit into the framework of the generally accepted, therefore, still lifes and landscapes were perceived as something vulgar, unworthy of recognition along with other garbage of high art.
The art exhibition, which became a kind of missionary activity for famous artists of that time, was able to reach the hearts and demonstrate the beauty and grace of unusual paintings. Images of objects and objects by all available means have become commonplace even within the walls of formidable institutions that profess only the principles of classical art. The triumphal procession of still lifes has not stopped since the end of the 19th century, and the variety of genres and techniques today allows us not to be afraid of any experiments with color, textures and materials.