TitleStill Life #3
Artist
Harry Willson Watrous
(1857 - 1940)
Daten.d.
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 30 x 28 in.
Framed: 37 x 35 x 3 in.
SignedSigned lower right: "Watrous"
SubmissionNA diploma exchange presentation, 1928
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY
Object number1385-P
Label TextWatrous added an unexpected epilogue to his career in 1923 when he exhibited the first of a long series of still lifes at the Academy Annual. With few exceptions, he worked exclusively within this genre until his death. His enthusiasm for his new bric-a-brac paintings of ceramic objects and medieval statuary is evident by his increased production after switching to these limited subjects."Still Life #3" typifies Watrous's work with its simple alternating, up-down arrangement of slender and squat vessels. The pure geometry and perfectly smooth paint application emphasize surface qualities and finish, from the irridescent lustreware candlestick to the creamy white covered jar in the foreground. The oriental cloth cascading from top to bottom with its repeated heron motif isolates the objects into an abstract setting, its matte surface playing against the glossy, light-caressed objects. Watrous's spell of distilled perfection is gently broken only in the crumpled cloth at left and the window's reflection on the tall celadon bottle, subtlely evoking the outside world.
Watrous submitted "Still Life #3" to the Academy Council on December 3, 1928, as a substitution for his original diploma picture, "The Widow's Mite." The latter picture, which had been accepted on October 14, 1895 was, presumably, returned to the artist.
