A must-have reference book for today's artists and art students. Every artist needs to learn and master the still life. Written by a well-known artist and expert instructor, The Art of Still Life offers a comprehensive, contemporary approach to the subject that instructs artists on the foundation basics and advanced techniques they need for successful drawing and painting. In addition to Casey's stunning paintings, the work of over fifty past and present masters is included, so that the book will do double duty as a hardworking how-to manual and a visual treasure trove of some of the finest still life art throughout history and being created today.

Serious visual artists can now easily understand and apply the secret geometry that masters used to create remarkable art. Superior mathematical skills aren’t required because there are hundreds of excellent step-by-step diagrams to explain everything with simplicity. Learn how the ancient and modern masters used dynamic symmetry to promote unity, movement, rhythm, and strength. These qualities, along with many others, allowed their art to have visual clarity, impact, and stand the test of time. This is an essential book for painters, photographers, sculptors, and cinematographers that hold composition and design with a high priority. For far too long, artists have been stuck with the basic tools of artistic composition, like the rule of thirds and leading lines. Unfortunately, we’re incapable of reaching the master level if all we know are the basics. Powerful tools like dynamic symmetry and other composition techniques have been kept a secret from all of us. It’s time to learn of them, push past any plateau that stands in our way, and finally unlock our true potential!

7th Edition, 8th printing of the original 1941 publication, many added color plates and addenda by Evelyn Payne Hatcher, the artist/author's daughter. A must for art collectors, artists, teachers and art dealers.

"The vibrant late paintings of Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) are considered by many to be among his finest achievements. Working in a small converted bedroom of his villa in the south of France, Bonnard suffused his late canvases with radiant Mediterranean light and dazzling color. Although his subjects were close at hand-usually everyday scenes taken from his immediate surroundings, such as the dining room table being set for breakfast, or a jug of flowers perched on the mantelpiece - Bonnard rarely painted from life. Instead, he preferred to make pencil sketches in small diaries and then rely on these, along with his memory, once in the studio." "This volume, which accompanies the first exhibition to focus on the interior and related still-life imagery from the last decades of Bonnard's long career, presents more than seventy-five paintings, drawings, and works on paper, many of them rarely seen in public and in some cases, little known. Although Bonnard's legacy may be removed from the succession of trends that today we consider the foundation of modernism, his contribution to French art in the early decades of the twentieth century is far more profound than history has generally acknowledged. In their insightful essays and catalogue entries the authors bring fresh critical perspectives to the ongoing reappraisal of Bonnard's reputation and to his place within the narrative of twentieth-century art."--Jacket

Look around and select a subject that you can see painted. That will paint itself. Do the obvious thing before you do the superhuman thing. It may have been accidental, but you knew enough to let this alone. The good painter is always making use of accidents. Never try to repeat a success. Swing a bigger brush — you don’t know what fun you are missing. For 31 years, Charles Hawthorne spoke in this manner to students of his famous Cape Cod School of Art. The essence of that instruction has been collected from students’ notes and captured in this book, retaining the personal feeling and the sense of on-the-spot inspiration of the original classroom. Even though Hawthorne is addressing himself to specific problems in specific paintings, his comments are so revealing that they will be found applicable a hundred times to your own work. The book is divided into sections on the outdoor model, still life, landscape, the indoor model, and watercolor. Each section begins with a concise essay and continues with comments on basic elements: general character, color, form, seeing, posture, etc. It is in the matter of color that students will especially feel themselves in the presence of a master guide and critic. Hawthorne’s ability to see color and, more important, to make the student see color, is a lesson that will aid student painters and anyone else interested in any phase of art. Although it does not pretend to be a comprehensive or closely ordered course, this book does have much to offer. It also represents the artistic insight of one of the finest painter-teachers of the twentieth century. "An excellent introduction for laymen and students alike." — Time "To read these notes and comments … is in itself an education. One cannot help but gain great help." — School Arts

MY STILL LIFE ARTText & Paintings by Richard SchmidIn this book, Richard Schmid invites us to enjoy his life-long affair with still life paintings. Although he has painted a wide range of other subjects, such as landscapes, marine paintings, portraits, figurative works etc., it was still life painting that allowed him the privacy and unlimited time to develop and fine-tune his techniques and color perception. But more to the point of Still Life, Schmid shows us how even the most ordinary things can be transformed into objects of astonishing beauty and sometimes of surprising complexity. He explains that the objects in a Still Life need not be thrilling in and of themselves, but rather it is the way they are painted that makes them so compelling. Also, the many close-up images reveal the different ways he uses his palette knives and brushes. As you turn the pages of this book, you will realize how fortunate you are to have a master of painting share his efforts and achievements in capturing not only the world he sees, but sometimes the world of his imagination as well.

The stunning beauty and diversity of 17th-century Dutch still-life painting raises many questions about developments in style and technique. What materials did artists use to produce these works? How were they made? Did all the still-life painters of the period use the same methods and materials? Can we relate differences in materials and methods to differences in style? These questions are explored by the conservators and curators of the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum and scientists attached to the Molart project (Molecular aspect of aging in art) in an examination of paintings by Jan Brueghel, Balthasar van der Ast, Jan Davidsz de Heem, Willem Kalf, Rachel Ruysch, and Jan van Huysum.