Decorative still life - stylization of form and color

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

For the first time, the phrase "decorative still life" began to be used at the beginning of the 20th century, precisely at the time when there was a process of the emergence of a large number of different new trends in art, including painting. The last years of the outgoing 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century in general became a period of searching for all kinds of new textures, desperate experiments with space, color and form.

The concept of "decorative still life" today it is customary to include all works made in the appropriate style and designed to decorate the interior. This is quite natural - after all, still life, by its very definition, implies the possibility of decorative styling. Despite the fact that many artists of this era painted in a different manner, all of their works can be equally considered decorative.

Take at least the works of the famous expressionist artist Matisse, in which the author made the main emphasis on texture and color. The decorativeness of his magnificent still lifes is beyond doubt. Increased attention to color and itsaccentuation is also characteristic of the works of Falk, Konchalovsky, Grabar, Antipova.

Fully correspond to the term "decorative still life" images of simple geometric shapes in the paintings of a prominent representative of cubism Pablo Picasso. There is no doubt about the decorativeness of the works of Petrov-Vodkin, who, through still life, sought to convey complex images and concepts to the viewer.

A characteristic feature that distinguishes a decorative still life is the admissibility of a conditional display of real objects, it does not require the unconditional fulfillment of some staged tasks, such as, for example, the display of materiality, space, form. Very limited requirements are also imposed on the planning of the image. Of the primary tasks of the works of this genre, it should be noted the color composition, which is built on monochrome, contrast, and nuance. Its main goal is to create the intended color. A decorative still life in gouache, watercolor or oil is an emphasis on the beauty of the line and contour of the depicted object.

The creation of such works is an amazing process of stylization of the shape of objects, their tone and color. Stylization here means the combination of objects using conditional techniques. These include simplification or complication of forms and details, colors, sometimes there is a complete rejection of the transfer of the volume of the depicted objects. But simplifying the form does not mean reducing it to primitiveness;details help emphasize the most significant qualities of the depicted.

Decorative ornament elements are usually used to complicate the form. The author has the opportunity to stylize the subject at his own discretion, sometimes a significant departure from nature is used. Moreover, volumetric forms - fruits, flowers, vases, jugs - can retain their smooth real lines or reach geometric shapes that gravitate towards abstract images.