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Humanities LibreTexts

5.4.2: Description Activity- Still Lifes

  • Page ID
    170579

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    Goal

    It’s a cliché to state that a picture is worth a thousand words, but all we mean by that is that the statement is so true that it has been overstated: it is no longer fresh. One interesting aspect of art, especially painting, is that it fixes a temporary feeling or image, a moment, in a concrete piece of work: an apple is forever fresh in a still life painting. If you aren’t familiar with still life paintings, there is a classic example below. Since artists have produced these from what they see and know in their lived experiences, arranging familiar objects into collages that seem to argue that time has stopped, if just for a second, offering you a cornucopia (sometimes literally) of interesting nouns to ponder. In this activity, you will examine two still life images: one old and one new; you will then be tasked with applying words to them, practicing description, or the art of writing with imagery.

    Directions

    Write a paragraph-or-longer description of the following image. Consider a paragraph to be around seven (7) to ten (10) sentences. Using active, engaging sentences, please describe what you see with as much detail as necessary to convey what the objects appear to be called as well as how the still life scene before you may smell, sound, taste, feel, or look.

    Describe this Painting