LIFE is Still LIFE
Anna Liber Lewis, Misha
Life is Still Life is a nattily entitled exhibition . In a brilliant lecture arranged by Curator Naomi Polonsky she explained how the École des Beaux Arts in Paris designated Still Life as the lowest category in their taxonomy of artistic endeavour. Sadly for women artists, they were excluded from the higher rungs of this hierarchy, nude painting -certainly not quel horreur! or landscape , who would allow ladies out and about in the countryside.? In this way Women and Still life found company in the bargain basement of Art .
This new exhibition is daring and defiant. Only one percent of the artists in the National Gallery are women.Yes you read that right, 1%. Hampered by prejudice and held back by domestic duties women seldom broke the mould. In fact to be a portrait painter, the really lucrative end of art historically , it was usual to have a painter as a father, and one who had run out of sons to train up. It was a rare privilege.
But this exhibition which takes its title from Charlotte Brontē’s Villette 1853 does something perversely successful, In Naomi Polonkey’s words “ Paradoxically the prosaic nature of its subject matter means that still life is the idea genre for artistic experimentation.” The Women’s Art Collection is the ideal home for this exuberant collection of vibrant painters,
How did that original home happen?
New Hall College did a daring thing back in the day. As a new women’s college they decided to build up an art collection entirely based on women artists. Their method was simple. They simply asked a range of them if they would be kind enough to donate a picture to the new Collection. They did -in droves. Now the New Hall (tragically renamed Murray Edwards College ) Collection is a phenomena in itself .
The new exhibition enfolds a range of women artists, of all ages and traditions . It is a daring and immensely successful coming -together of Stll life in all its forms . It really deserves a rewarding visit.
It runs until 23rd Febuary 2023
Maeve Gilmore, Still Life,
Hilary Pecis Breakfast Nook
Maisie Cousins ,Breakfast 2017
