American Encounters: The Simple Pleasures of Still Life

Still life celebrates the commonplace. But in these simple objects we invest meaning―meaning that can be culturally specific but also universal. From the seventeenth century onward in Europe, a shared visual language developed around the practice of still life painting. In early nineteenth century America, artists adapted established formats to suit new circumstances. Drawing examples from three American and one French museum, this catalogue traces the development of American still life painting and its European precedents. American Enounters: The Simple Pleasures of Still Life is the final installment of the series, a collaborative project between Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Musée du Louvre, the High Museum of Art, and the Terra Foundation for American Art investigating four key genres in nineteenth century American art: landscape, genre, portraiture, and still life.