Black_White_Photography_-_Winter_2014

44

B+W

WHAT IS A STILL LIFE

PHOTOGRAPH?

FEATURE

Constructed or found, focusing on form or content, the photographic still life

has its roots in 17th century painting – but from there it has come a long way.

Thomas Peck investigates the history and the modern day version of the genre.



Tulipomania, No.2 by John Blakemore. Here the artist has constructed everything in the picture – and everything has a meaning.

I

’ve been puzzling over the definition

of photographic still life. The genre

encompasses so much – from Roger

Fenton’s Fruit and Flowers (1860) to

We s ton’s Pepper (1930) to Paul Kenny’s

Seaworks (2013), the category is huge

and difficult to pin down.

Still life in painting is much easier to

define – it’s a relatively set genre. What

springs to mind? Dutch 17th century

paintings: flowers, fruit, wine glasses, plates,

or perhaps fish or fowl (usually dead but

not yet prepped into food). Many objects in

paintings had complex allegorical meanings:

fallen leaves, burning candles, skulls as

memento mori. The function of these

paintings ranged from the purely decorative

to profound meditations on the nature of

existence and mortality.

So what about photography? Clearly there

are still elements of the painted tradition, but

the genre seems to have expanded hugely.

It has moved into new areas that, I suggest,

cover four different themes: the constructed

and the found still life; the still life that

focuses on content; and, finally, the focus on

form. The photographic still life has clearly

moved far beyond the painting tradition,

but it does show us how to see the world

differently, through new eyes.

T

he constructed still life is the

sub-genre that has most affiliation

with the original tradition. In both

painting and photography, subject

matter, composition, form, lighting,

background, props – absolutely everything –

is decided by the artist. Such photographs are

usually taken under controlled conditions,

usually inside in a studio. Like painting,

metaphor and symbolism are often present.

Take Blakemore’s Tu lip o m a ni a: here there

are echoes of Dutch tradition. Both subject

‘Th e function of these

paintings ranged from the

purely decorative to profound

meditations on the nature of

existence and mortality.’

44-49_STILL_LIFE ER/MB.indd 4444-49_STILL_LIFE ER/MB.indd 44 30/10/2014 10:3530/10/2014 10:35