Still Life: Ordinary Pleasures is organized by Phoenix Art Museum. It is made possible through the generosity of the Henry Luce Foundation, with additional support from the Museum’s Circles of Support and Museum Members.
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Poet Mark Doty observed that “in a still life, there is no end to our looking, we look in and in…. as long as we can stand to look, as long as we take pleasure in looking.”
One of the most fundamental of artistic genres, the still life remains a staple of beginning art classes. When Elaine Fried arrived at Willem De Kooning’s studio in 1938 for her first private lesson, he set up a grouping of ordinary objects, including a coffee pot, a large shell, a yellow cup, a blue cotton shirt, and an army blanket. She painted these compositions for months and found the experience to be transformative. “I really felt as though I could spend my entire life painting still lifes and express everything I wanted to express through them,” declared Fried.
IMAGE CREDIT
Georgia O’Keeffe, The Apple (La manzana), 1920-1922. Oil on canvas, Gift of Mr. Edward Jacobson. © 2020 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
For artists, still life “models” are both handy and free ways to explore spatial relationships. For viewers, the intimate scale of a tableau of inanimate objects reward the process of looking and observing.
Still Life: Ordinary Pleasures showcases still-life paintings from the Museum’s American, Latin American, and European art collections. Featured works of fruit, flowers, and other domestic objects include those by Elena Climent, Georgia O’Keeffe, Pablo Picasso, Odilon Redon, Helen Torr, and others.
IMAGE CREDIT
Odilon Redon, Flowers in a Vase (Flores en un florero), not dated. Oil on board. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Donald D. Harrington.
EXHIBITION SPONSORS
FEATURED WORKS IN THE COLLECTION
Cocina con vista al viaducto (Kitchen with View of the Viaduct)
Elena Climent, Mexican, born 1955, 1995, painting, oil on canvas and panel, Museum purchase in honor of Clayton Kirking with funds provided by Mr. and Mrs. L. Gene Lemon
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The Apple (La manzana)
Georgia O'Keeffe, American, 1887 - 1986, 1920-1922, painting, oil on canvas, Gift of Mr. Edward Jacobson
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Flowers in a Vase (Flores en un florero)
Odilon Redon, French, 1840 - 1916, not dated, painting, oil on board, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Donald D. Harrington
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Featuring more than 20,000 objects, the collection spans the globe, bringing the world to our city, and our city to the world.
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