history of still life photography pdf

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Mikel Arrizabalaga

STILL LIFE - definition The term “still life’ comes from the Dutch “stilleven.”

Still life is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which may be either natural (food, flowers, plants, rocks, or shells) or man-made (drinking glasses, books, vases, jewellery, coins, pipes, and so on). With origins in the Middle Ages and Ancient Greek/Roman art, still life paintings and photographs give the artist more control in the arrangement of design elements within a composition than do paintings/ photographs of other types of subjects such as landscape or portraiture.

STILL LIFE - A history People have been painting collections of objects for thousands of years.

Still life paintings, particularly before 1700, often contained religious and allegorical symbolism relating to the objects depicted.

The Ancient Egyptians painted stacks of offerings for the gods, in temples or tombs. Egyptians were not interested in perspective, or in shading. They didn't care about making things look realistic. They just wanted to clearly show what each of these objects was http://www.timetrips.co.uk/still_life_history .htm

Greek and Roman Still life Mosaics on the floor and painting on the walls especially at Pompeii (the Roman town covered by ash in the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in AD79). There is much more effort in accurate shading and colouring here than the Egyptians managed

These images are of Fresco paintings of still life objects from Ancient Greece and Rome

Christ at Emmaus by Caravaggio 1601

EARLY PHOTOGRAPY Artists from the Renaissance onwards used a camera obscura (Latin for dark chamber), or a small hole in the wall of a darkened box that would pass light through the hole and project an upside down image of whatever was outside the box. However, it was not until the invention of a light sensitive surface by Frenchman Joseph Nicéphore Niépce that the basic principle of photography was born. Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, View from the Window at Gras, 1826

PAINTINGS Pieter Claesz, Still Life (between 1625-30)

Still life photography has been popular among photographers since the early 19th century, and still is today. Early photographers adopted the still life genre from the painters at the time. Around this time, painters such as Vincent Van Gogh, Francisco Goya and Paul Cézanne were painting their famous still life paintings, which inspired the photographers of the day. In the early years of photography, still life was a practical choice as well as a creative one. In the 19th century, exposure times were measured in minutes rather than seconds, so it would be difficult to attempt to photograph landscapes or people; anything that moves would be very difficult to photograph.

Vanitas Paintings The name refers to a passage of the Bible in Revelations, which says 'vanity of vanities - all is vanity'. The idea was that people love their pleasures in life, the things that make them feel important or wealthy, and yet it all means nothing (vanity) because time soon passes and we die. VANIATS paintings mostly portrayed a variety of expensive and fancy objects, each a symbol to represent a persons life including hobbies , occupation and interests they pursued. Musical instruments and wine goblets standing for pleasure, but also reminders of time such as a candle or hourglass, or of death, usually a skull. Usually they were painted as a memorial to someone who had recently died.

Vanitas Paintings

Adriaen van Utrecht, Vanitas Still Life with a Bouquet and a Skull (1643)

Harmen Steenwijck, Vanitas (1640)

EARLY STILL LIFE PHOTOGRAPHS Still life with ivory tankard and fruit, about 1860. Roger Fenton. The Royal Photographic Society Collection at the National Media Museum.

Josef Sudek (1896 – 1976) Structural frame.

Joseph Sudek

From the mid-1920s until his death in 1976, Czech photographer Joseph Sudek shot Gothic and Baroque architecture, street scenes and still lifes--usually leaving the frame free of people and capturing a poetic and highly individualistic glimpse of Prague. The still lifes are the best known aspect of his oeuvre; indeed, his graceful depictions of drinkingglasses and eggs are familiar to those who don't necessarily even know his name. Acceding to his reclusive nature, Sudek began The Window of My Studio series in the 1940s.

Josef Sudek (1896 – 1976) was a Czech photographer,

“Bowl and Egg in Window,” by Josef Sudek.

Artist: Josef Sudek, Czech (1898 - 1976) “Still Life” 1955 Photograph Size: 12 x 9.5 inches

Robyn Stacey – contemporary Still life Robyn Stacey was born in Brisbane in 1952 and all through her schooldays did not regard herself as being in any way artistic. It was not until she completed a photography course as part of an arts degree at Queensland University that she decided that photography in some form would be her career.

Robyn Stacey

Robyn Stacey Bombe (cape bulbs) (2009) 118.0 x 148.8 cm Type C print on paper The title of the work (Bombe) refers to the baroque styled vase, which rests on an example of Australian red cedar furniture from around 1820. Stacey revives the tradition of still life, a genre of painting that was at the height of its powers and popularity in seventeenth century Holland. The presence of fruit, flowers and often insects communicated the brevity of life and the inevitability of death in these vanitas paintings from the past – Stacey consciously reworks these traditions in her practice.

Duke of Northumberland's Tablecloth, from the exhibition Robyn Stacey - House at the Museum of Sydney

Johann Friedrich Grueber Still life – Painting 1662-1682

Robyn Stacey’s draws on the collections of the NSW Historic Houses Trust. Stacey translates these beautifully preserved objects into still life format to reveal their aesthetic, social and historical value. These constructed photographs reference historical painting and artifacts but use contemporary production techniques.

House is the result of a four-year collaboration between photographer Robyn Stacey and Historic Houses Trust curators. The exhibition focuses on collections from Elizabeth Bay House, Vaucluse House, Rouse Hill House & Farm and the Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection.

The Fall of the House of Rouse, from the exhibition Robyn Stacey - House at the Museum of Sydney

Accomplishments, from the exhibition Robyn Stacey House at the Museum of Sydney

Saison, from the exhibition Robyn Stacey - House at the Museum of Sydney

Rouse and the Cumberland Plain, from the exhibition Robyn Stacey - House at the Museum of Sydney

Still Life Photography by Kevin Best.

Contemporary Still life Photographs Still life by Frescendine

The Weight of the sin by Antonio Diaz

Antonio Diaz

Antonio Diaz

Antonio Diaz - Eggs, lemons and other things

Antonio Diaz - Candle Light

Antonio Diaz Love ends

Antonio Diaz – Little Things

Apple, nuts and vase

By Antonio Diaz

Lemons by Antonio Diaz

Still life redux by Leenda K

Bottles on sand by Wim Schuurmans

The fight by Jimmy Hoffman

POSTMODERN - photography PHOTOGRAPHY Post-Modern photographers are considered to be "rephotographers" who do not take their own pictures but take them from other mediums. Most PostModern photographers take images and place them to the side of text.