{"title":"American Still Life Paintings","description":"\u003ch2\u003eAmerican Still Life Paintings\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eAmerican still life paintings reveal how ordinary objects can become subjects of remarkable formal and emotional depth. Fruit, flowers, vessels and table settings may appear familiar, yet the strongest works transform them through composition, color and surface.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eWhat Collectors Look For\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eCollectors often appreciate still life because it rewards sustained attention. Arrangement matters, but so do touch, light and the interplay between material description and larger visual design.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eStyle, Subject and Period Character\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eAmerican painters approached the genre in many ways, from crisp realism to looser and more interpretive handling. The category can feel meditative, abundant or quietly modern depending on the artist’s choices.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eHow to Evaluate Quality\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen evaluating a still life, balance, color relationships and condition are central. The most successful paintings do more than describe objects. They create a coherent world of form, atmosphere and visual rhythm.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eAmerican Still Life Paintings at M.S. Rau\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eM.S. Rau offers American still life paintings selected for composition, craftsmanship and collector appeal. Each work is considered for quality, condition and the depth with which it sustains this enduring genre.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"red-rose-in-a-standing-vase-by-martin-johnson-heade","title":"Red Rose in a Standing Vase by Martin Johnson Heade","description":"Martin Johnson Heade\u003cbr\u003e 1819-1904 | American \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cem\u003eRed Rose in a Standing Vase\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Signed and dated \"M J Heade 1883\" (lower left)\u003cbr\u003e Oil on board \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e This stunning oil on canvas represents the great Martin Johnson Heade's lifelong fascination with the natural world of flora and fauna. The celebrated landscape and still life painter devoted his career to capturing the beauty of nature on canvas, and his greatest achievements are his depictions of flowers such as this. Exactingly rendered with the precision of a naturalist, this still life of a rose with its crimson petals shows his mastery over texture and color. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e By the time this work was completed in 1883, Heade was well established as a painter of both landscapes and still lifes. It was also the year he married and moved to St. Augustine, Florida, where he experienced a period of renewed creativity and well being in his new tropical setting. The rose, with its illusions to romance, its intoxicating fragrance and its dramatic red hue, was the perfect subject for this stage in his life. Not only does he capture the bloom with a lush and sensuous beauty, but he also imbues the work a sense of mystery that is enhanced by the darkened setting. In its seeming simplicity, the still life reveals the subtle complexity of Heade's best works. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Born in Pennsylvania in 1819, Heade received his earliest artistic training from the painter Edward Hicks. At the age of 19, he took his first trip abroad to live in Rome for two years. Upon his return in 1841, he exhibited for the first time at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, and just two years later showed a portrait at New York's National Academy of Design. By the mid-1850s, Heade turned away from the portrait painting that dominated his early career, instead experimenting with landscape under the tutelage of Frederic Edwin Church. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Not soon after, Heade also began his pursuit of still life painting, becoming the only artist of his generation to be proficient in both genres. By the 1880s, he was well established and had earned the patronage of Henry Morrison Flagler, a wealthy oil and railroad magnate who would purchase several dozen of his works over the next decades. Today, Heade's paintings can be found in important museum collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), the National Gallery of Art (Washington D.C.), the North Carolina Museum of Art, and many others. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Dated 1883 \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Board: 16\" high x 8\" wide\u003cbr\u003e Frame: 27 3\/4\" high x 19 3\/4\" wide \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Provenance:\u003cbr\u003e Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., New York\u003cbr\u003e Acquired in 1977 from the above by Jay P. Altmayer, Palmetto Hall, Alabama\u003cbr\u003e Richard Greene Fine Paintings, London\u003cbr\u003e Private collection, New York\u003cbr\u003e M.S. Rau, New Orleans \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Literature:\u003cbr\u003e \u003cem\u003eThe Life and Works of Martin Johnson Heade\u003c\/em\u003e, New Haven, 1975, by T.E. Stebbins, p. 258, no. 234 (illustrated)\u003cbr\u003e \u003cem\u003eThe Life and Works of Martin Johnson Heade: A Critical Analysis and a Catalogue Raisonné\u003c\/em\u003e, New Haven and London, 2000, by T.E. Stebbins, pp. 155, 327, no. 511 (illustrated)","brand":"M.S. Rau","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44528169910407,"sku":"30-9149","price":88500.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0083\/2471\/0466\/files\/30-9149_1_516effe2-88bd-44a0-b2d8-13c90d639e2c.png?v=1777556602"},{"product_id":"the-bass-season-by-john-atherton-1","title":"The Bass Season by John Atherton","description":"John Atherton\u003cbr\u003e 1900-1952 | American \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cem\u003eThe Bass Season\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Signed \"Atherton\" (lower right)\u003cbr\u003e Inscribed \"The Bass Season opens in the east July 1st \/ out west earlier\" (en verso)\u003cbr\u003e Oil on canvas \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The art of fishing is celebrated in this exceptional oil on canvas by the great American painter John Atherton. Atherton's cover illustrations for the \u003cem\u003eSaturday Evening Post\u003c\/em\u003e were each a resounding success with the American public, who were engrossed by his highly detailed still lifes of distinctly American pastimes. This fishing still life graced the June 29, 1946 edition of the \u003cem\u003ePost\u003c\/em\u003e, and it is a stunning celebration of the time-honored essence of the sport.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e An avid fisherman himself, Atherton did not have to go far for inspiration. The various flies and lures in the scene are painstakingly rendered, and they very well may have been his own. He would later write an influential book on the subject of fly-fishing, entitled \u003cem\u003eThe Fly and the Fish\u003c\/em\u003e, which was published in 1951 and is still read to this day. His appreciation for the sport is keenly felt in this carefully designed composition, from the dangling flies to the bucolic lake in the distance. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Atherton would later become known as a significant figure in the Magic Realism movement, an American take on the Surrealists. His initial success, however, came from his commercial illustration work for popular publications such as \u003cem\u003eFortune\u003c\/em\u003e and the \u003cem\u003eSaturday Evening Post\u003c\/em\u003e. Throughout the 1940s, he was a frequent exhibitor at most of the major American art institutions, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. His first cover for the \u003cem\u003ePost\u003c\/em\u003e was created in 1942, and he continued to create covers with some regularity until 1961. Today, his works can be seen in the Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington D.C.), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), and the Art Institute of Chicago, among many others. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Painted in 1946 \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Canvas: 28\" high x 20 1\/4\" wide\u003cbr\u003e Frame: 33 7\/8\" high x 27 1\/2\" wide","brand":"M.S. Rau","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42643133399175,"sku":"30-8602","price":138500.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0083\/2471\/0466\/files\/30-8602_1_019410f7-7860-48a9-b2ac-84720f1b1ed4.png?v=1747148434"}],"url":"https:\/\/rauantiques.com\/collections\/american-still-life-paintings.oembed","provider":"M.S. Rau","version":"1.0","type":"link"}