Still Life. A History

Full of new information and beautiful illustrations, this fascinating history of the European still life from the ancient world to the twentieth century is a pleasure to read and a joy to look at. Readers will learn about the still life's origin in Greco-Roman images of xenia, or "hospitality gifts," and how these evocative pictures evolved into the superb trompe l'oeil still-life paintings of the Roman Empire. The book continues with the still life's re-emergence in sixteenth-century Europe and its new associations with the cycles of nature and with Christian moralism, and follows its development to the pure still lifes of the eighteenth century and later. This astonishing pageant encompasses the meticulous realism of the Old Masters and the powerful forms of Courbet and his fellow Realists. It continues with the gorgeous visions of Monet and Renoir, the dynamic compositions of Cezanne and Picasso, and the Pop witticisms of Tom Wesselmann and Roy Lichtenstein. Taken together it is one of the great epic stories of Western art history.

An art historian and currently director of the city art museum of Dresden, Ebert-Schifferer has compiled a sweeping overview of the still life in Western art, from antiquity to the present. Her oversize volume (11" x 13") is composed of large reproductions (338 in all, 278 in color) interspersed amid a chronological text. There is an interesting chapter on the evolution of 19th-century American works as reflections of the young democracy's values (though the author is especially given to generalizations here); a fine introduction to the birth of the subject in Greco-Roman mosaics and its resurfacing via Renaissance genre painting; and a solid, historical take on artists' use of the theme in modern and contemporary works (though it cannot compare in ambition or complexity of thought to MOMA's Objects of Desire: The Modern Still Life, LJ 10/1/97). Nearly half of the text, however, is given to 17th- and 18th-century European works. These remain popular favorites, and Ebert-Schifferer is at her best here, blending pictorial analysis and delineation's of art historical progress. Overall, this beautiful work is a fine addition to any library.AEric Bryant, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The enduring power of the still life resides in a paradox: life is never still. These meticulous arrangements of succulent fruit, luminous flowers, fish out of water, broken-necked fowl, and bowls, plates, and vases of china, pewter, and glass seem to promise sensuous delights and nourishment, but they are actually images of transition--of life on the brink of decay. Each still life is emblematic of a specific time and place and of a certain metaphysical perspective. German art historian Ebert-Schifferer presents the long and fascinating history of this complex genre in a detailed and gracefully interpretative narrative that stretches from ancient Greek and Roman mosaics to twentieth-century paintings. She analyzes the glistening accuracy of sixteenth-and seventeenth-century Italian and Dutch paintings, the explosion of flower paintings that followed, and more somber works evincing a keen awareness of mortality as grapes and tulips pull the eye away from insects, lizards, and skulls. Ebert-Schifferer muses on the still-life painter's inherent "desire to deceive the viewer" and explicates the symbolism of various objects and tableaus. This comprehensive, articulate, and beautifully produced volume may well become a standard in the field. Donna Seaman