Customer Reviews

The Art of the Still Life: Still Life Painting in the Early Modern Period

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This is an excellent entry in the Taschen series of art books. The author is a Professor of Art History at the University of Munster, Germany. The book deals mostly with still life paintings done by German and Dutch artists during the 1500's and 1600's. What I especially enjoyed was that the book is broken down into sections describing the many different types of still lifes done within the genre. For example, there are chapters on kitchen scenes; game still lifes (deer and stags, etc. not Nintendo!); musical instruments; weapons; books, etc. I read a lot of art books, but I had no idea there were so many different types of still life paintings! Mr. Schneider gives you the "codes" to decipher what the objects in a still life mean. For example, in religious still lifes grapes and glasses of wine and loaves of bread represent the eucharist. Many people know that, but there are other, less obvious, examples. A mouse, for example, can represent evil and butterflies can represent resurrection. Mr.Schneider also explains how cultural and economic factors tie in to objects shown in other still lifes. For example, some kitchen scenes are filled to the brim with all sorts of food and may be shown to represent the wealth of the patron or just to show the bountiful supply of food created by improved agricultural methods or even to be a warning against gluttony! This book is full of beautiful color plates and Mr. Schneider writes in a reader friendly manner, blissfully free of art world jargon. I felt that considering the quality of the paper and of the reproductions that the price was very reasonable, too. Thumbs up!

For passionate art collectors, for students of all stages, and for art book afficianados this new volume of Still Life is about as fine as they come. The author introduces us into this historically significant genre in a way that encourages us to actually READ the book rather than the too frequent tendency to browse through the pictures alone. In presenting some of the finest examples of 16th, 17th, and 18th century paintings he opens our eyes to the symbolism, allegories, spiritual icons, and social history that lies heretofore hiddden within the complex and elegant depictions of fruit, flowers, game, weapons - scenes in and out of the home. But more important to the service of arts education, Schneider lays the groundwork for looking at subsequent versions of still life, especially the current resurgence of the genre in today's artists. Beautifully illustrated and scholarly presented, this new volume belongs in libraries of Art Academies and homes alike. A generous introduction to a endlessly fascinating medium.