Tag Archives: still life

Modern Art Monday Presents: Vincent Van Gogh, Two Crabs

van gogh two crabs photo by gail worley
Photo By Gail

After his January 1889 lease from the hospital in Arles, Vincent  Van Gogh embarked on a series of still lifes, including crab studies. This painting my show the same crab upright and on its back. Parallel strokes sculpt the creature’s form on an exuberant, sea-like surface.

Photographed in the National Gallery in London

Pink Thing of The Day: Pink Soda Can with Sunglasses

pink soda can and sunglasses photo by gail worley
Photos By Gail

Does this look to you like a Pink Soda Can is wearing Pink Sunglasses? Because that’s what it looks like to me. This photo was absolutely not staged but part of real-life scenario I encountered near the downtown intersection of West 57th Street and Broadway. After a  pause-and-crouch to snap a few pics, I was on my way again!

pink soda can and sunglasses photo by gail worley

Just remember: Littering is not cool!

Modern Art Monday Presents: Oranges On a Branch By Winslow Homer

oranges or a branch photo by gail worley
Photo By Gail

Many of  Winslow Homer’s images of the Bahamas evoke the idea of the island as a paradise created especially for tourists. Enjoying local fruits was perceived as a fundamental luxury  of the visitor experience, as one contemporary guidebook noted: “Oranges to daily break our fast in the morning, and delightfully crown our afternoon meal, are felt to be a necessity. Without them the most elaborate feast fails to satisfy.”  This vibrant watercolor, Oranges On a Branch (1885), a rare still life by the artist, offers a complete sensory experience — ripe citrus, bright green leaves, and fragrant blossoms are bathed in warm sunlight.

Photographed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art as Part of Winslow Homer: Crosscurrents, on Exhibit Through July 31st, 2022.

Modern Art Monday Presents: Still Life #57 By Tom Wesselman

still life 57 by tom wesselmann photo by gail worley
All Photos By Gail

Like most still lifes, Tom Wesselmann’s Still Life #57 (196970) presents a number of ordinary objects — including an orange, a bouquet of flowers, a light switch, a radio, and a checked tablecloth. The artist spent three years developing this monumental work. The “main difficulty . . . and the one that took so long to resolve, was cropping or not cropping the radio,” he said. “I wanted to crop it to keep it more in a painting reference rather than something like a stage set.”

Photographed in the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan.

still life 57 by tom wesselmann photo by gail worley
tom wesselman still life 57 photo by gail worley
Installation View

Modern Art Monday Presents: Giorgio De Chirico, The Philosopher’s Conquest

the philosophers conquest photo by gail worley
Photo By Gail

Giorgio de Chirico’s work represents an unexpected form of classicism in early avant-garde painting. The Philosopher’s Conquest  (191314), one of six in a series, combines a Mediterranean cityscape with familiar still-life objects that appear in many of the artists’s paintings, including a classical arcade, a cannon and cannonballs, a clock, chimney and a train. The stage set is an Italian piazza, virtually deserted except for the menacing, shadowy figures outside the edge of the scene. Rendered with a matter-of-fact — though intentionally crude — precision, de Chirico’s paintings seem rife with meaning but are resolutely enigmatic. Indeed, by juxtaposing incongruous objects, he sought to produce a metaphysical art, one that “resembles . . . the restlessness of myth.”

Photographed in The Art Institute, Chicago.