Analysis Of Still Life

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At the beginning of the 20th Century many changes were underway. In 1913, one of the greatest art shows in the world, the Armory Show, was put on in New York City. The show contained works by famous artists from all over the world, and it was so influential that it continues to be talked about today. The artist that is the subject of this paper, Man Ray was present at the show. In his work, Still Life, we can see the influence of the show. While Man Ray was just starting his career at the time, he goes on to become a very successful and influential artist in the following decades. In Still Life, we can see the beginnings of Man Ray’s influence on the Dada tradition he associates with in the future. Man Ray painted Still Life in 1913, shortly …show more content…

These multi-perspective contributes an instability to the composition. He also tilts the composition forward to add to that feeling of instability, and make it feel as though these objects are about to tumble over into the viewer.1 Historically, this is interesting because it has a Cézanneesque quality to it. Cézanne is renowned for his use of multi point perspective, in works like Still-life with Bowl of Fruit, which contains much of the same perspective elements as Man Ray’s Still Life. This is such an interesting connection because it shows the diffusion throughout the art world caused by the Armory Show. While this specific work was not present at the show, several works by Cézanne that contained this nonlinear perspective were present at the show, and Man Ray would have seen them. He clearly liked this style, as he started incorporating it into his paintings almost immediately following the show. If one is to infer meaning from the compositional tendencies of Still Life, we must take a look at Man Ray’s past as well as his future. Following World War I, the Dada movement sprung up in Europe as a reaction to the capitalist themes that led to the war. While Dada is primarily focused on

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