Notes

The intimacy implicit in a still life painting can be likened to chamber music as opposed to, say, a grand symphony or a theatrical opera. It exudes a delicate lyricism that is unique to this genre of painting. Its origins date back far in the history of art. Its enjoyment requires a keen response to the pure qualities of the medium and the ability to appreciate composition, light and shade, texture and colour combinations, especially the ranges of tonal values used in rendering its delicacy.

The range of flowers used in the various still life lots on the current sale each emit their own gentle fragrance: hydrangeas (Sénèque), St Joseph lilies (Oerder), Iceland poppies (Oerder), camellias (Stern), and dahlias (Lock), among others. With combinations of flowers, fruit and vegetables, the still life symbolises the fecundity of life. Pomegranates (Pierneef), peaches (Skotnes), oranges (Stern) and pumpkins (Stern) contribute in this regard. The still life can also suggest a subtle comparison between nature and culture, when the painter places human-made objects next to flowers and fruits: earthenware (Welz), milk jugs (Skotnes), sculpture (Siopis) and books (Stern).

The sculptural quality of the still life is both emphasised and contested in a work by contemporary artist Jody Paulsen (Dear Ben), who builds up three-dimensional materiality with flat layers of felt placed on top of one another, satirizing the sentiment and the nostalgia often associated with the still life. In Marjory Wallace’s Breakfast with Cats, the artist introduces a delightful playful element, and in Maud Sumner’s still life, Cassandra, a sense of the uncanny comes to the fore – is the apparently severed head that of a real person or is it a sculpture? There is still a lot of life in the still life!

Provenance

Stephan Welz & Co in association with Sotheby's, Cape Town, 24 October 1994, lot 38, with the title Red Roses in an Earthenware Vase.

Strauss & Co, Cape Town, 7 March 2011, lot 252.