Not Just Another Pretty Vase

Bo Bartlett Jessie Arms Botke Harry Carmean Francis Criss Andrew Dasburg Joseph Decker Paul De LongprÊ Max Ernst George Forster Richard Haines Ejnar Hansen William Harnett David Johnson Luigi Lucioni Helen Lundeberg Edward C. Leavitt Dan Lutz Jan Matulka Alfred Maurer R. Kenton Nelson B.J.O. Nordfeldt Geogia O’Keeffe Hank Pitcher Joseph Stella Grace Vollmer Howard Warshaw Nell Walker Warner Max Weber William Zorach

MERICANS. WE DON’T LIKE BOUNDARIES. WE ESCHEW TRADITION. WE DON’T THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX. WE ARE OUTSIDE THE BOX. For Americans the conventions of still life painting are not the boundaries of a limitation, but the format for invention. Not just another pretty vase. Not just a bowl of fruit. American artists have taken the still life concept and expanded it, reduced it, abstracted it and held it up as an inquisitive mirror of the American experience.

Still life painting, as it is known today, was born early in the seventeenth century to a Dutch painter who sought to create a tableau of objects exploring human foibles called vanitas. These paintings featured items like coins, flowers and often a skull and were intended as a meditation on the absurdity of mortal ambitions in the face of certain death. Later French painters, in order to demonstrate the wealth of their patrons, piled tables high with earthly bounty, game and ornament. The work of Jean-Baptiste Chardin and his contemporaries featured images of dead game and other items from the common kitchen and revitalized interest in a flagging genre. Americans refused to paint inside this regime.

At the time the American National Academy was founded in 1825, one critic wrote that still life in America ranked just above sketching and copying and just below the paintings of “animals and cattle pieces ” as a subject.

Serious American artists were admonished to take up more serious pursuits. Nonetheless, the American painter was unperturbed.

As public appreciation of the genre expanded, critics begrudgingly admitted that a certain charm was to be found in “the exactness of imitation” seen in the best examples of American still life painters. However, they continued to deride the paintings as being objects for mere “decoration.” In the later nineteenth century, William Harnett almost single-handedly energized the genre by creating trompe l’oeil paintings like “Pipe, Newspaper, and Tobacco.” The illusion created by painting objects with perfect perspective and realistic colors delighted patrons everywhere. These trompe l’oeil paintings touched on the early themes of the Dutch vanitas paintings with burnt matches and daily newspapers, but treated the idea of mortality whimsically. Still life needed no longer concern itself with death.

In the twentieth century, American artists pursued innovation and new approaches to their craft and found a great ally in the humble still life. A generation of painters like Max Weber and Alfred Maurer adopted still life for the radical purpose of exploring form for form’s sake and color for color’s sake. At times, objects were transformed as metaphors for ideas or emotions as in the work of Georgia O’Keeffe. As the twenty-first century arrives, the lowly object, its context redefined and its conventions discarded, has became a metaphor for the American character.

- Frank Goss

Illustrated: Cover: Red Peppers • Joseph Stella (1877-1946) • 1940 • 10.625” x 9.625” • Oil on canvas

Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986) Fig Oil on board 7.375” x 5.5”

David Johnson (1827-1908) Dish of Apples and Quinces, ca. 1857 Oil on canvasboard 10.25” x 12.5”

William Mason Brown (1828-1898) Apples and Grapes Oil on canvas 9” x 12”

George Forster (1817-1896) Still Life with Bowl of Raspberries Oil on canvas 14” x 12”

Joseph Decker (1853-1924) Still Life with Strawberries Oil on canvas 9” x 14”

Victor Dubreuil (active 1880-1910) Fresh Peanuts, ca. 1890 Oil on canvas 8” x 10”

William Harnett (1848-1892) Pipe, Newspaper & Tobacco Pouch Oil on canvas 7.5” x 9.75”

Paul De Longpré (1855-1911) A Bunch of California Poppies, 1904 Watercolor on paper 20” x 12.5”

Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt (1878-1955) Still Life with Fruit Oil on canvas 32.25” x 37”

Andrew Dasburg (1887-1979) Still Life with Zinnias Oil on canvas on panel 17.75” x 13.5”

Max Weber (1881-1961) Italian Pitcher Oil on canvas 23.75” x 19.75”

Alfred Maurer (1868-1932) Table Top Still Life, ca. 1919 Oil on panel 21.5” x 17.75”

Francis Criss (1901-1973) Still Life and Figure, ca. 1930s Oil on canvas 33” x 28”

Betty Lane (1907-1996) Untitled Decaying Leaves, 1939 Oil on masonite 12” x 20”

Luigi Lucioni (1900-1988) Still Life, 1940 Oil on canvas 20.25” x 16.25”

Richard Haines (1906-1984) Sun Fish, 1945 Oil on masonite 16” x 20”

John Bernhardt (1921-1963) Basement Still Life, 1948 Oil on canvas 18” x 24”

Harry Carmean (b. 1922) Still Life with Figure, 1950 Oil on canvas 12.75” x 15.5”

Dan Lutz (1906-1978) Melon Still Life, 1954 Oil on canvas 24” x 30”

Howard Warshaw (1920-1977) Still Life with Lemons, 1961 Oil on panel 16” x 26”

R. Kenton Nelson (b. 1954) Nude #3, 2004 Oil on canvas 12” x 16”

Hank Pitcher (b. 1949) Primrose and Water Tower I, 2004 Oil on canvas 9” x 12”

Bo Bartlett (b. 1955) Tea For Three, 2002 Oil on paper 30.75” x 38.5”

OUR GALLERY WILL FEATURE STILL LIFE ARRANGEMENTS CREATED COURTESY OF: STEVE CUSHMAN • STAN HOLLINGSWORTH • PHILIP AND JANE JOHNSTON • KALEIDOSCOPE FLOWERS • RITA FERRI • KELCEY KEIM • BILL AND B.K. KELM • THE RITZ FLOWERS • GERRY SPENCE • DR. JIM TAMBORELLO • VICTOR THE FLORIST • VINCENT ROBBINS • AND OTHERS

AN EXHIBITION OF SCULPTURE AND CERAMICS BY: KEN BORTOLAZZO • IRMA CAVAT • STEVE CUSHMAN • MARGARET FORD • PETER KUENTZEL • RICKY MALDONANDO • SUSAN PARRISH • KEITH PUCCINELLI • DON L. REITZ • PORNTIP SANGUANICH • PAUL SOLDNER • NICOLE STRASBURG

LIST OF ARTISTS: BO BARTLETT • JOHN BERNHARDT • JESSIE ARMS BOTKE • WILLIAM MASON BROWN • CLAUDE BUCK • HARRY CARMEAN • IRMA CAVAT • LYDIA COOLEY • FRANCIS CRISS • ANDREW DASBURG • JOSEPH DECKER • PAUL DE LONGPRÉ • VICTOR DUBREUIL • MAX ERNST • ANYA FISHER • GEORGE FORSTER • JON FRANCIS • NAN GREACEN • RICHARD HAINES • EJNAR HANSEN • LYLA HARCOFF • WILLIAM HARNETT • STAN HOLLINGSWORTH • DAVID JOHNSON • WAYNE LACOM • BETTY LANE • EDWARD C. LEAVITT • LUIGI LUCIONI • HELEN LUNDEBERG • DAN LUTZ • MARIUSA • JAN MATULKA • ALFRED MAURER • NELL BROOKER MAYHEW • JOHN MORA •R. KENTON NELSON • B.J.O. NORDFELDT • GEOGIA O’KEEFFE • HANK PITCHER • MIRIAM SLATER • JOSEPH STELLA • FLORINE STETTHEIMER • GAYLE B. TATE • RAY TURNER • GRACE VOLLMER • NELL WALKER WARNER • HOWARD WARSHAW

MARCH 27 - JUNE 1, 2004 REOPENING CELEBRATION AND RECEPTION: SATURDAY, MARCH 27 FROM 5 -7 PM 7 EAST ANAPAMU STREET SANTA BARBARA SCHEDULED PRESENTATIONS: “AMERICAN STILL LIFE PAINTING” by Catherine Whitney Saturday, April 17, 2004 at 11:00 AM “CONTEMPORARY ISSUES FROM THE ARTIST’S PERSPECTIVE” by Hank Pitcher Saturday, May 8, 2004 at 11:00 AM Seating limited, to reserve a seat, call (805) 730-1460

Sullivan Goss - An American Gallery 7 East Anapamu Street Santa Barbara, CA 93101 (805) 730-1460

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