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When was the first still life painted? Still life in painting: types and description

Still life (fr. nature morte - “dead nature”) is a genre visual arts, which depicts the objects around us that have a semantic connection with each other. This type of art attracts with its great visual possibilities, which contribute to the development of compositional skills and color construction.

Still life conveys to us certain images and symbols of the world around us. Involves us in the world of communication of objects, providing an opportunity to be in the role of an interlocutor. true artist allows the viewer to see secret meaning objects around us. By pre-selecting and building certain attributes into a certain composition, which carries a specific semantic task.

Still life originated in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries, but its prehistory arose much earlier. On a par with everyday genre still life for a long time could not take a leading position in painting. Since it was considered impossible to convey the main social ideas through this type of painting. Thanks to the great masters, this genre was recognized as quite capable of conveying various social conditions, thereby affecting various social virtues. With the help of various attributes, one or another image was created, reflecting the meaning of the main idea. Household items classified the social status, lifestyle of their owner, which was significant for conveying images of social strata.

Turning to the chronology of art history, one can trace the succession of the rise and fall of such a peculiar genre as still life.

“The formation of still life as an independent genre of painting was due to the work of the Dutch and Flemish artists XVII century. The 17th century in Europe is marked as the heyday of the still life. During this period, all the main varieties of still life were created.

The progressive development of still life in Western European painting XVII century can be largely explained by the peculiarities of the general cultural and worldview situation, in particular, the ultimate dilution and at the same time the mutual personification of such categories as material and spiritual, individual and universal. In the still life, the most concrete of all the specificities of this world was artistically affirmed - a thing, a product of a very specific human activity, at the same time, these earthly man-made things were endowed with an allegorical, emblematic meaning, perceived as signs of immaterial, spiritual values, as personified meditation on meaning human life. A thing, having lost its allegorical meaning, ceases to be an object great art. The genre of still life begins to gradually become obsolete.

Its revival takes place at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. Due to its plot and, to some extent, semantic sterility, still life in these stormy decades for the development of art turns out to be especially convenient for creative experimentation. One of the most conservative, from the point of view of iconography, one of the most well-established in terms of composition, still life allowed artists to carry out the most daring, sometimes paradoxical violations of the laws of the genre, while remaining within it. Most of the experiments in this area had as their task the most complete plot and figurative decoupling of things.

Things, as it were, go beyond their boundaries, lose their self-significance, cease to be equal to themselves. They either dissolve in light and color, disperse in the radiation of energies, or condense into clumps of matter, forming combinations of the simplest volumes, or crumble into many fragments - and from all this new extra-substantial or, conversely, super-substantial things are created on the canvas. As in the paintings of the 17th century, they have an allegorical meaning, but, unlike classical still lifes, the role of primary elements in these pictorial cryptograms is performed not so much by the objects themselves as by their individual features, their qualities being saturated with increased semantic tension.

In the early years of the 20th century, there was not only a blurring of the boundaries of things within the still life, but also a significant blurring of the boundaries of the genre itself. In the open canvases of Matisse, the objects that make up the still life, permeated with the organic rhythms of nature, merge with the landscape or turn into a landscape themselves, overcoming the barrier between the world of the living and the world of the inanimate. In the constructed cubist landscapes of Picasso, nature itself is objectified, acquires the features of being made, materiality, the landscape is likened to a still life. .

“Still life also occupied a prominent place in the work of French impressionist artists (Manet, Cezanne, Monet, etc.). They sought to embody the first fresh impressions of what they saw in their works. For their still lifes, as well as for the painting of the Impressionists in general, they are characterized by: the harmony of pure colors perceived directly in nature, the naturalness and vitality of the composition.

One of the best craftsmen still life was famous french artist Chardin, who managed to penetrate into intimate life the most ordinary things, bring them closer to the viewer, and this is largely facilitated by the soft color of his paintings, deeply thought out and coming from the observation of life, simplicity and naturalness in the arrangement of objects.

In the still lifes of Chardin, there are no strict schemes developed by the Dutch school, monotony in compositional techniques, the choice of objects, the palette of colors. .

In Russia, still life independent genre painting, appeared in early XVII I century. The idea of him was originally associated with the image of the gifts of the earth and the sea, the diverse world of things surrounding a person. Up to late XIX century still life, in contrast to the portrait and historical picture, was seen as an "inferior" genre. It existed mainly as an educational production and was allowed only in a limited sense as a painting of flowers and fruits.

The beginning of the 20th century was marked by the flourishing of Russian still life painting, which for the first time gained equality among other genres. The desire of artists to expand the possibilities of the pictorial language was accompanied by active search in the field of color, form, composition. All this is especially evident in the still life. Enriched with new themes, images and artistic techniques, Russian still life developed unusually rapidly: in a decade and a half, it goes from impressionism to abstract form creation.

In the 30-40s of the 20th century, this development stopped, but since the mid-50s, the still life has been experiencing Soviet painting a new upsurge and from that time finally and firmly rises on a par with other genres.

In the visual arts, a still life (from the French natur morte - “dead nature”) is usually called the image of inanimate objects combined into a single compositional group. For many, German or English version designations still life and still leben ( quiet life). In Dutch, the designation of this genre sounds like stilleven, that is, “quiet life”, in the opinion of many artists and art historians, this is the most accurate expression of the essence of the genre, but such is the strength of tradition that “still life” is a well-known and rooted name. A still life can have both an independent meaning and be integral part compositions genre painting. Still life expresses the relationship of man to the world around him. It reveals the understanding of the beautiful, which is inherent in the artist as a man of his time.

Still life, as an independent genre, arose in Flanders and Holland at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, quickly reaching extraordinary perfection in the transfer of a variety of objects. material world. The process of becoming a still life proceeded more or less the same way in many countries. Western Europe. But if we take the history of art together, then the first stage in the development of still life refers to the Paleolithic period. There are two main techniques used by ancient artists: naturalism and ornamentality. Then these two currents begin to converge more and more, and a “semi-conscious” still life appears, an image of individual parts of an object. A genuine whole object can be found only in the Bronze Age. This second stage in the development of still life receives its heyday in the art of Egypt. Objects are always depicted isolated from each other. For the first time, the motif of a flower, the theme of cut plants, is introduced. Correlation of proportions appears in the works of Aegean art. Objects are depicted in three quarters arranged in groups. The traditions of Aegean painting found their continuation in Greek culture. We can judge this genre of fine art by the vases. Items no longer hang in the air, but have their own " real place"in space: a shield leaning against a tree, a mantle thrown over a branch - the so-called "hanging" still life. also in school scenes a "musical" still life is often depicted. One more type of Greek still life can be distinguished - “antique”. Artists create images of workshops: pieces of statues, a saw, a hammer, sketch plates. It is almost impossible to find images of flowers and animals on Greek vases.

In medieval art, as a result of the fragmentation of the composition, the division of the pictorial canvas into peculiar registers, the subject becomes an attribute, and not an object of the image. Ornament also continues to play an important role, especially actively used in the stained-glass windows of Catholic cathedrals. The stern, intensely ascetic art of Byzantium, creating immortal, monumental-generalized, sublimely heroic images, used images of individual objects with extraordinary expressiveness.

In ancient Russian icon painting, those few objects that the artist introduced into his strictly canonical works also played an important role. They brought spontaneity, vitality, sometimes seemed to be an open expression of feelings in a work dedicated to an abstract mythological plot.

Still life played an even greater role in the paintings of artists of the 15th-16th centuries during the Renaissance. The painter who first drew close attention on the world around him, sought to indicate the place, to determine the value of every thing that serves a person. Household items acquired the nobility and proud significance of their owner, the one they served. On large canvases, still life usually occupied a very modest place: a glass vessel with water, an elegant silver vase or delicate white lilies on thin stems often huddled in the corner of the picture. However, in the depiction of these things there was so much poetic love for nature, their meaning is so highly spiritualized that here you can already see all the features that later determined independent development the whole genre.

Objects, a material element, received a new meaning in the paintings in the 17th century - in the era of the developed still life genre. In complex compositions with a literary plot, they took their place along with other heroes of the work. Analyzing the works of this time, one can see what an important role the still life began to play in the picture. Things began to appear in these works as the main characters, showing what an artist can achieve by devoting his skill to this kind of art.

Objects made by skillful, industrious, wise hands bear the imprint of a person's thoughts, desires, and inclinations. They serve him, delight him, inspire a legitimate sense of pride. No wonder we learn about epochs that have long disappeared from the face of the earth from those shards of dishes, household utensils and ritual objects that become for archaeologists scattered pages of the history of mankind.

peering into the world, penetrating with an inquisitive mind into its laws, unraveling the fascinating mysteries of life, the artist more and more fully and multilaterally reflects it in his art. He not only depicts the world around him, but also conveys his understanding, his attitude to reality.

The history of the formation and development of various genres of painting is living evidence of tireless work human consciousness striving to embrace the infinite variety of activities, to comprehend it aesthetically. The genre of still life was especially pronounced in Dutch painting proto-renaissance. It is still part of the interior, but at the same time, the artists' love of detail creates amazing little still lifes: dishes, a work table, shoes standing on the floor. All this is depicted with the same love as the figures of people and saints. In Italy, the still life emerges from the scenery. In the future, the object receives a kind of independent activity, becomes a participant in the action. Since the proto-Renaissance, the objective world has become more and more realistic, sometimes even almost tangible. It ceases to be a sham, but becomes everyday life. In the 16th century, the artists of the Northern Renaissance began to expose objects, tear off their covers (for example, the skin from animals).

Still life is a relatively young genre. It received independent significance in Europe only in the 17th century. The history of the development of still life is interesting and instructive. The still life flourished especially fully and vividly in Flanders and the Netherlands. Still life finally takes shape as an independent genre of painting. Its emergence is associated with those revolutionary historical events, as a result of which these countries, having gained independence, at the beginning XVII century embarked on the path of bourgeois development. For Europe at that time, this was an important and progressive phenomenon. New horizons opened up before art. Historical conditions, new public relations directed and determined creative requests, changes in solving the problems facing the painter. without directly depicting historical events, artists took a fresh look at the world, found new values in man. Life routinely appeared before them with hitherto unknown significance and fullness. They were attracted by the peculiarities of national life, native nature, things that keep the imprint of labors and days ordinary people. It was from here, from a conscious, in-depth, prompted interest in the life of the people, that separate and independent genres of everyday painting, landscape were born, and still life arose.

The art of still life, which developed in the 17th century, determined the main qualities of this genre. Painting, dedicated to the world things, talked about the basic properties inherent in objects surrounding a person, revealed the attitude of the artist and contemporary to what is depicted, expressed the nature and completeness of the knowledge of reality. The painter conveyed the material existence of things, their volume, weight, texture, color, functional value of household items, their living connection with human activity. The beauty and perfection of household utensils were determined not only by their necessity, but also by the skill of their creator. The still life of the revolutionary era of the victorious bourgeoisie reflected the artist's respect for new forms national life compatriots, respect for work.

Formulated in the 17th century, the tasks of the genre in in general terms existed in the European school up to mid-nineteenth century. However, this does not mean that the artists did not set themselves new tasks, mechanically repeating ready-made solutions.

Over the epochs, not only the methods and ways of painting a still life changed, but artistic experience accumulated, in the process of formation a more complex and constantly enriching view of the world developed.

dead nature - a genre of fine art, mainly easel painting, dedicated to the image of inanimate objects: flowers, fruits, dead game, fish, attributes of any activity.

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STILL LIFE

French nature morte - dead nature), one of the genres of painting. Still lifes depict the gifts of nature (fruits, flowers, fish, game), as well as things made by human hands (tableware, vases, clocks, etc.). Sometimes inanimate objects coexist with living beings - insects, birds, animals and people.

Still lifes included in plot compositions, already found in painting ancient world(wall paintings in Pompeii). There is a legend that the ancient Greek artist Apelles depicted grapes so skillfully that the birds mistook him for a real one and began to peck. As an independent genre, still life developed in the 17th century. and then experienced its bright heyday in the work of the Dutch, Flemish and Spanish masters.

In Holland, there were several varieties of still life. The artists painted “breakfasts” and “desserts” in such a way that it seemed as if a person was somewhere nearby and would soon return. A pipe smokes on the table, a napkin is crumpled, wine in a glass is not finished, a lemon is cut, bread is broken (P. Klas, V. Kheda, V. Kalf). Also popular were images of kitchen utensils, vases of flowers, and finally “Vanitas” (“vanity of vanities”), still lifes on the theme of the frailty of life and its short-term joys, calling to remember true values and take care of the salvation of the soul. Favorite attributes of "Vanitas" are a skull and a watch (J. van Strek. "Vanity of vanities"). Dutch still lifes, as well as 17th century still life in general, are characterized by the presence of hidden philosophical overtones, complex Christian or love symbolism (the lemon was a symbol of moderation, the dog was fidelity, etc.). At the same time, artists recreated in still lifes with love and enthusiasm the diversity of the world (plays of silks and velvets, heavy carpet tablecloths, shimmering silver, juicy berries and noble wine). The composition of still lifes is simple and stable, subject to the diagonal or the shape of a pyramid. The main “hero” is always highlighted in it, for example, a glass, a jug. Masters subtly build relationships between objects, opposing or, conversely, matching their color, shape, surface texture. carefully discharged the smallest details. Small in size, these paintings are designed for close examination, long contemplation and comprehension of their hidden meaning.

The Flemings, on the contrary, painted large, sometimes huge canvases intended to decorate the palace halls. They are distinguished by a festive multicolor, an abundance of objects, and the complexity of the composition. Such still lifes were called "shops" (J. Feit, F. Snyders). They depicted tables littered with game, seafood, bread, and next to them were the owners offering their goods. Abundant food, as if not fitting on the tables, hung down, fell out directly on the audience.

Spanish artists preferred to limit themselves to a small set of objects and worked in a restrained manner. color scheme. Dishes, fruits or shells in the paintings by F. Zurbaran and A. Pereda are sedately placed on the table. Their forms are simple and noble; they are carefully molded with chiaroscuro, almost tangible, the composition is strictly balanced (F. Zurbaran. "Still life with oranges and lemons", 1633; A. Pereda. "Still life with a clock").

In the 18th century the French master J.-B. S. Chardin. His paintings, depicting simple, solid utensils (bowls, a copper pot), vegetables, simple food, are filled with the breath of life, warmed by the poetry of the hearth and affirm the beauty of everyday life. Chardin also painted allegorical still lifes (Still Life with Attributes of the Arts, 1766).

In Russia, the first still lifes appeared in the 18th century. in decorative paintings on the walls of palaces and “dummy” paintings, in which objects were reproduced so accurately that they seemed real (G. N. Teplov, P. G. Bogomolov, T. Ulyanov). In the 19th century trickery traditions have been rethought. The still life is experiencing an upsurge in the first half. 19th century in the works of F. P. Tolstoy, who rethought the traditions of “tricks” (“Berries of Red and White Currants”, 1818), artists of the Venetian school, and I. T. Khrutsky. In everyday objects, artists sought to see beauty and perfection.

A new heyday of the genre comes at the end. 19 - beg. 20th century, when the still life becomes a laboratory for creative experiments, a means of expressing the individuality of the artist. still life takes significant place in the work of post-impressionists - W. Van Gogh, P. Gauguin and, above all, P. Cezanne. The monumentality of the composition, stingy lines, elementary, rigid forms in Cezanne's paintings are designed to reveal the structure, the basis of the thing and recall the unshakable laws of the world order. The artist sculpts the form with color, emphasizing its materiality. At the same time, elusive play of colors, especially cold blue, gives his still lifes a feeling of air and spaciousness. The line of Cezanne still life was continued in Russia by the masters of the “Jack of Diamonds” (I. I. Mashkov, P. P. Konchalovsky and others), combining it with the traditions of the Russian folk art. The artists of the "Blue Rose" (N. N. Sapunov, S. Yu. Sudeikin) created nostalgic, antique-styled compositions. Still lifes of K. S. Petrov-Vodkin are imbued with philosophical generalizations. In the 20th century P. Picasso, A. Matisse, D. Morandi solved their creative tasks in the still life genre. In Russia, the greatest masters of this genre were M. S. Saryan, P. V. Kuznetsov, A. M. Gerasimov, V. F. Stozharov and others.

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Instruction

Still life as a genre did not stand out immediately, for a long time paintings depicting flowers and household items were used as a framing addition to other canvases, as well as decoration on furniture doors. The first independent paintings appeared around the 17th century. Then the images of objects began to be used as allegories, and each object had an additional symbolic meaning. Later, the still life became popular among artists, but was considered an inferior genre.

There are several types of still life, one of the earliest and most common is the flower still life, the next most popular is the still life of the served table. The symbolic still life continues to exist. another view that has appeared relatively recently is an abstract still life, in this style objects are not depicted realistically, the forms are sketchy, and the colors are devoid of smooth transitions.

If you are fond of drawing, you have probably made a lot of drawings and paintings in this genre. In order to draw a still life, you do not need to spend time and effort looking for interesting objects for drawing, you can always draw good composition items that are always at hand. Use drapery as a backdrop, a small piece of fabric is fine. Arrange the objects so that you get several plans, remember that the objects big size should be in the background and be those that are smaller. Put an additional side color source, this will add volume to the objects. Regular exercises with such productions will allow you to hone your drawing skills.

"Forest violets and forget-me-nots"

Forest violets and forget-me-nots

The painting by Isaac Levitan is like a blue sky and a white cloud - from the singer of Russian nature. Only on the canvas are not native open spaces, but a bouquet of wild flowers. Dandelions, lilacs, cornflowers, immortelle, ferns and azalea... After the forest, the artist's workshop turned into "either a greenhouse or a flower shop." Levitan loved flower still lifes and taught his students to see both color and inflorescences: "It is necessary that they smell not of paint, but of flowers."

"Apples and Leaves"

apples and leaves

The works of Ilya Repin organically set off the brilliant setting of the Russian Museum. The itinerant artist composed a composition for his student - Valentin Serov. It turned out so picturesquely that the teacher himself took up the brush. Six apples from an ordinary garden - rumpled and with "barrels", and a pile of leaves, covered autumn colors, as a source for inspiration.

"Bouquet of flowers. Phloxes»

Bouquet of flowers. Phloxes

Painting by Ivan Kramskoy. “A talented person will not waste time on depicting, say, basins, fish, etc. It’s good for people who already have everything, and we have a lot of work to do,” Kramskoy wrote to Vasnetsov. And yet the genre of still life at the end of life famous portrait painter did not pass by attention. A bouquet of phloxes in a glass vase was presented at the XII traveling exhibition. The painting was bought before the opening of the vernissage.

"Still life"

Still life

Kazimir Malevich on the way to the "Black Square" through impressionism and cubism, bypassing realism. A vase of fruit is the fruit of creative research, even within the framework of one picture: thick black lines of the French cloisonné technique, flat dishes and voluminous fruits. All components of the picture are united only by color. Peculiar to the artist - bright and saturated. Like a challenge to pastel colors real life.

"Herring and Lemon"

Herring and lemon

Four children and painting. This combination in the artist's life unmistakably dictates the genre. So it happened with Zinaida Serebryakova. Numerous family portraits and still lifes, according to which you can make a menu: “Fruit Basket”, “Asparagus and Strawberries”, “Grapes”, “Fish on Greens” ... In the hands of a real master, “herring and lemon” will become a work of art. Poetry and simplicity: a spiral lemon peel and a fish devoid of frills.

"Still life with a samovar"

Still life with a samovar

A student of Serov, Korovin and Vasnetsov, "Jack of Diamonds" - Ilya Mashkov liked to depict the world around him, but brighter. Porcelain figurines and begonias, pumpkins... Meat, game - in the spirit of the old masters, and Moscow bread - sketches from the Smolensk market of the capital. And according to Russian tradition - where without a samovar. A still life from the realm of festive life with fruits and bright dishes is complemented by a skull - a reminder of the frailty of life.

"Etude with medals"

Study with medals

Still life in Soviet style. The artist of the 20th century Anatoly Nikich-Krilichevsky in one picture showed the whole life of the first Soviet world champion in speed skating - Maria Isakova. With cups, each of which - years of training; medals that were awarded in a bitter struggle; letters and huge bouquets. Beautiful picture for the artist and an artistic chronicle of sports success. Still life story.

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