American and European Still Lifes

The essential artistic challenge of still life painting centers on the composition. Still lifes are painted arrangements of inanimate objects, which in the nineteenth century, were often commonplace things. Artists made these paintings interesting through the way they were arranged and painted. Although these works portray concrete objects, it is their formal and painterly aspects that command attention. I look for still lifes in which artists have not only captured tactile qualities, but transcending their mere physical depiction, have given new significance to aspects of shape, color and texture which might escape the attention of the ordinary observer. Objects are used as vehicles to create a mood and provide the viewer with a heightened sense of observation that becomes a continually rewarding aesthetic experience.

Among the many outstanding American still life painters of the nineteenth century, I particularly admire the work of Raphael Peale, Martin Johnson Heade, Emil Carlsen, Joseph Decker, Robert Spear Dunning, William Michael Harnett, John Haberlie and John La Farge. Among the Europeans, I am drawn to the painterly works of such artists as Leon Bonvin, Adolphe Monticelli, Théodule Ribot and Antoine Vollon.

Browse American and European Still Lifes

Currently we have available:

Sören Emil Carlsen (American, born Danish 1853-1932)
Roses and Oriental Porcelain, circa 1895
Still Life with Tea Kettle and Radishes, circa 1915
Still Life with Violets, circa 1895

Joseph Decker (American 1853-1924)
Still Life with Strawberries, circa 1885

John Henry Hill (American 1839-1922)
Marsh Marigolds, 1858

John William Hill (American 1812-1879)
Thistles, 1864

George Cochran Lambdin (American 1830-1896)
Cyclamen, circa 1880

William Rickarby Miller (American 1818-1893)
Hanging Concord Grapes, 1862
Hanging Green Grapes, 1862

Charles Ethan Porter (American 1847-1923)
Still Life with Flowers, circa 1890

Lemuel Everett Wilmarth (American 1835-1918)
Peaches, 1870