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Emil
Carlsen was one of the finest still life painters in the annals of American
art. Attracted to simple, dignified still lives, he fell under the spell
of the French painter Jean-Baptiste Simeon Chardin (1699-1779) during his
two periods of study in Paris. When Carlsen returned to the United States,
he became an advocate for a moody, simplified style of still life painting.
By the careful arrangement of common objects, the juxtaposition of interesting
textures and the use of a limited palette, the Danish-born painter painter
enveloped his still lifes in atmosphere and mood.
Carlsen's works stood in vivid contrast to
the illusionistic trompe l'oeil style that had dominated American
still life painting in the years after the Civil War. Arthur Edwin Bye,
the earliest major chronicler of the American still life, wrote about William
Merritt Chase (1849-1916), Maria Oakey Dewing (1857-1927) and John La Farge
(1836-1910), but he considered Emil Carlsen the greatest American still
life painter and actually dedicated his landmark book Pots and Pans or
Studies in Still Life Painting (1921) to him.
Three major themes comprise Carlsen's still
life ouvre - household objects, recently departed fish and game and
floral arrangements. The fish and game still lifes are wonderful, with the
shimmering scales of the fish or the fluffy feathers of the game fowl beautifully
rendered. The seemingly haphazard arrangement of the fish and fowl was actually
carefully composed. While these works may offend the sensibilities of modern
viewers who wish to forget where their meal came from, they are magnificent
examples of their genre.
Carlsen's floral still lifes - which featured
peonies, roses and chrysanthemums - often utilized more ornate objects than
the majority of his works. But the artist's best-known still life works
were of brass or copper pots, undistinguished vessels and vegetables, whcih
were often combined with the morning catch to create simple but graceful
kitchen tableaus. These objects were given plenty of space and arranged
on undefined, non-reflective surfaces. Carlsen's lighting was usually low,
and becaue he worked in a narrow range of values, the resulting works were
relaxed and moody, giving the viewer a sense of tranquility. |
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