Still Life in Photographs

Still life is one of the great art forms. The first still life photograph was created around 1827, more than a decade before the news of photography's invention was announced in Paris and London in 1839. There is a resurgence of interest in the still life genre as the digital age transforms the medium. A sumptuous visual and narrative survey of the innovative ways in which photographers throughout the eras have explored the traditional genre of still life. An introductory essay is followed by an illuminating sequence and juxtaposition of plates showing how still life has served as both a conventional and an experimental form during periods of significant aesthetic and technological change. Illustrating the above are 19th masterpieces by practitioners such as Hippolyte Bayard and Roger Fenton, 20th examples from Irving Penn and Edward Weston, and a sampling of contemporary artists, some recalling styles from the past.