Still Life

Artist May Guinness (1863 - 1955)

Datec. 1925-1930

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions142.9 x 76.8 cm

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineCollection & image © Hugh Lane Gallery. Donated by the Estate of May Guinness (the Artist), 1956. © The Estate of May Guinness.

Object number1065

DescriptionWhile May Guinness came to painting relatively late in life, she was to study with some of the most well known artists of early modernism. She also exhibited and travelled widely during her long lifetime and was a collector of modern art. She attended classes given by Norman Garstin (1847-1926), an exponent of plein-air painting, at Newlyn, Cornwall in 1894 and later in 1905 at Brussels. Guinness admired the decorative style and bold use of colour of Matisse and the Fauves and she received lessons from the Dutch artist Kees van Dongen (1877 - 1968). From 1922 -1925 she studied with the Cubist painter and influential art teacher André Lhôte (1885-1962).

Still LIfe illustrates the influence of André Lhôte and Cubism on May Guinness in the early 1920's. Her technique in these years was to apply Cubist stylisation to scenes from everyday life in order to make bold patterns but, at the same time, to retain recognisable imagery. Guinness graphically articulates the solidity of the various objects she is painting by using thick black outlines and by emphasising strong contrasts of light and shade. The sophisticated compositional arrangement of this work sees a juxtaposition of vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines combined with lively decorative patterns, and heightened with areas of pure colour. Not only adventurous and strong-willed in pursing her artistic interests, Guinness joined the French army as a military nurse during WWI and was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Medáille de la Reconnaissance Française for her bravery. (JO'D)

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