Symbolism in Still life photography

I didn’t know very much about this subject but I suspected it would fit well with my idea. I needed a way of representing the last 12 months of my mothers life, using her diary as the guide to what those days were like and how they changed over the subsequent months. At the same time I would symbolise my own life over the same time period as it drew closer to hers. After some thought I decided that a selection of objects might be a good way of expressing this and so started looking at Still Life Photography

Symbolism in still life photography appears to have its roots firmly grounded in the old masters of the 16th and 17th century.

“Burnt candles, human skulls, dying flowers, fruits and vegetables, broken chalices, jewellery, crowns, watches, mirrors, bottles, glasses, vases… Today, we can see them in the works of still life photographers, but more notably, these were the typical, prominent feature of the paintings created by the Dutch and Flemish Old Masters of the 17th century” (Kordic, 2016)

A symbol did not always symbolise the same thing, as it often depended on the painter or indeed the religion and education of the viewer. For example;

“Devout Catholics meanwhile would recognise in the careful spacing of Zurbarán’s quietly meditative Lemons, Orange and a Rose a reference to the Holy Trinity” (Pound, 2018).

 Osias Beert, a Flemish painter used fruits such as strawberries and cherries to depict the souls of men (Fig. 1).

The use of symbols, it seems,  was not just for fun!

“……when the Dutch Reformed Protestant Church made it illegal to depict any religious icons in art. That meant that if an artist wanted to talk about anything to do with religion (which was pretty much the hot topic back in the day) they had to get clever. And so, everyday objects became codes for things you weren’t supposed to be talking about with a paintbrush…” (Knapp, 2019)

The word Vanitas kept popping up in my research and having never come across it before. I looked it up in the Tate glossary where it is described as,

Another artist using symbolism at around the same time, was the Dutch painter Georg Flegel. His still life below (Fig. 3) is an absolute cacophony of symbolism; in fact there isn’t anything in it that doesn’t appear to have a symbolic meaning. The cross is represented by the walnut, Holy Communion by wine and grapes, Jesus by a white flower, Judas (betrayal) by the coins. The nuts were being guarded by a bird rather than the mouse who, being on the ground, is seen as closer to satan. In the words of the author;

“It was basically a Bible School cheat sheet” (Knapp 2019)

It had already occurred to me that I would have to be very careful in selecting the style of images. On looking at the Old Masters, I became very aware of  light and shadow and the challenges this might bring to the technical side of the shots. Looking further at contemporary still life photography, it was clear that this very challenge was often the inspiration itself;

“One of the most interesting and challenging aspects of this genre of painting and the reason why many still life photographers are attracted to it is the chance to explore the composition and lighting, probably much more than the topic of vanity itself. Because the medium of photography relies on light so heavily, still life of this kind provides a vast field of technical experimentation – in the manner of the Old Masters, still life photographers create the perfect contrast between deep shadows and penetrating light which highlights only certain objects” (Kordic, 2016)

Many of the images seen in contemporary still life photography bear a strong resemblance to the style of the old masters, in the subjects or visual countenance. In Figure 4 Krista Van der niet, a Dutch still life photographer has chosen items of food and butterfly’s, often found in the old masters but has; apart from the black background, given the image a very different look by her choice of lighting.

In Mat Collishaw’s series Last Meal on Death Row (2011) , (Fig. 5) he has incorporated food, and the style of lighting and composition used in the 16th and 17th century. There was quite a dark theme behind the series and this is reflected in the overall look of the images. Collishaw recreated the last meals eaten by prisoners on death row and states,

“I remade the meals in a manner usually used for reflecting on the accumulation of worldly goods, vanity and mortality,” Collishaw (N.D)

Having discovered a whole wealth of information relating to the symbolism used in painting and often incorporated in still life photography, I needed to look closely at how I am going to express this in my own mages.

I moved on to look at some still life photographers and their work in order to get further inspiration. (Link)

 

Bibliography

Pound, C., 2018. Secret Symbols In Still-Life Painting. [online] Bbc.com.
Available at: <https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20180318-secret-symbols-in-still-life-painting&gt;
[Accessed 26 October 2020]

Figure 1
Available at: <https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20180318-secret-symbols-in-still-life-painting&gt;
[Accessed 26 October 2020]

Kordic, A., 2016. Still Life Photographers Who Give A Fresh Meaning To Vanitas | Widewalls. [online] Widewalls.ch.
Available at: <https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/still-life-photographers&gt; [Accessed 26 October 2020]

Knapp, F., 2019. The Secret Language Of Still Lifes. [online] Messy Nessy Chic.
Available at: <https://www.messynessychic.com/2019/04/05/the-secret-language-of-still-lifes/&gt;
[Accessed 26 October 2020]

Figure 3
Flegel, G., (first half of 17^th century). The Secret Language Of Still Lifes. [online] Messy Nessy Chic. Available at: <https://www.messynessychic.com/2019/04/05/the-secret-language-of-still-lifes/&gt; [Accessed 27 October 2020]. 

Figure 2
Claesz, P., 1628. [online] Metmuseum.org.
Available at: <https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435904&gt;
[Accessed 27 October 2020].

Tate. n.d. Vanitas – Art Term | Tate. [online]
Available at: <https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/v/vanitas&gt;
[Accessed 27 October 2020]

Figure 4
Van der niet, K.,
Available at: http://www.kristavanderniet.nl/portfolio/arts-holland-magazine/#1
[Accessed 27 October 2020]

Figure 5
Collishaw, M., Last Meal on Death Row (2011) Paul Nuncio
Available at: https://matcollishaw.com/works/last-meal-on-death-row-texas/
[Accessed 27 October 2020]

Collishaw, M.,
Available at: http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2095889_2316164,00.html
[Accessed 27 October 2020]