Best American Still Life Painters

John F. Francis, Luncheon Still Life, ca. 1860.

Best American Still Life Painters

"While the Peale family of Philadelphia produced extraordinary still life paintings during the 18th century, the next generations of artists added their own mark to this important tradition." ^[1]

James Peale

(1749 – 1831) brother of portrait painter Charles Willson Peale, and considered one of the finest miniaturists of the Federal Era, James Peale also practiced landscape.

Fruits of Autumn, ca. 1829.

Still Life, ca. 1824.

Raphaelle Peale

(1774–1825) he was America's first professional still-life painter.

A Dessert (Still Life with Lemons and Oranges), 1814.

Charles Bird King

(1785–1862) also known for his famous paintings of American Indian chiefs.

Still Life on a Green Table Cloth, 1815.

The Poor Artist's Cupboard, ca. 1815.

John F. Francis

(1808–1886) born in Philadelphia, Francis is best known for his luncheon and dessert still life paintings.

Still Life with Yellow Apples, 1858.

Strawberries and Cakes, 1860.

Still Life with Fruit and Nuts, 1865.

Severin Roesen

(1816–ca. 1872) is most famous for his abundant fruit and flower still lifes and is today recognized as one of the major American still-life painters of the mid-nineteenth century. [1]

An Abundance of Fruit, 1816 – 1872.

Martin Johnson Heade

(1819-1904), a Hudson River School painter.

Giant Magnolias on a Blue Velvet Cloth, ca. 1890.

Andrew John Henry

(1826-1888). Henry's still lifes are on subjects like: bunches of grapes and oysters.

Bunch of Grapes, 1873.

Paul LaCroix

(1827-1869). Paintings by LaCroix hang in world best museums like: the Brooklyn Museum, New York City, Springfield Museum of Art, Ohio, and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid.

Gooseberries, 1867.

Still Life with Chrysanthemums, 1864.

From the Garden, 1865.

George Cochran Lambdin

(1830-1896) focused on the study and painting of roses in vases, arrangements, or against stark backgrounds.

Cyclamen.

Wysteria.

Roses in a Wheelbarrow.

John LaFarge

(1835-1910). Among his many commissions, in 1876, the mural decoration of the Trinity Church in Boston; He admired the formality and patterning of Japanese art. [2] In the painting of still-life and flowers he followed a method of his own, based on the principles of the Pre-Raphaelites. [3]

Red Hollyhocks.

Richard LaBarre Goodwin

(1840-1910), a portrait and still-life painter; Goodwin's still-life paintings are of a type known as trompe l'oeil (French for "fool the eye") because the meticulously rendered objects. [4]

Cabin Door Still Life.

A Basket of Cherries.

William Harnet

(1848-1892) preferred, for his still life subjects, musical instruments, hunted animals and firearms.

The Old Violin.

Cincinnati Enquirer at the White House.

Still Life with Ginger Jar.

William Merritt Chase

(1849-1916) was a prolific painter with more than 2000 works, included still lifes, portraits, and landscapes.

Pink Azalea Chinese Vase, ca. 1880–90.

Still Life: Fish, ca. 1908.

Azaleas.

The Belgian Melon, 1912.

Still Life - Flowers.

Emil Carlsen

(1853-1932), the artist's best-known still life works were of brass or copper pots, undistinguished vessels and vegetables, which were often combined with the morning catch to create simple but graceful kitchen tableaus. [5]

The Samovar, 1920.

Peonies, 1890.

Blue and White Jar, 1910.

John Frederick Peto

(Philadelphia, 1854 - Island Heights, New Jersey, 1907), an American trompe l'oeil painter specialized in the nostalgic wall-rack painting. Peto befriended William Harnet. His works are represented in the collections of major museums throughout the US. [6] [7]

For the Track, 1895.

Still Life with Oranges and Goblet of Wine, 1880-1890s.

Still Life with Mugs Bottle and Pipe.

Fish House Door, 1905.

Charles A. Meurer

(1865-1955), a 19th Century American landscape, still life painter. Born in Germany of American parents, Charles Meurer became the last living link to the heyday of the trompe l'oeil painting style. Many of his trompe l'oeil works have reproductions of money, and he has also done painting with hunting motifs that are similar to work by William Michael Harnett, the man credited with founding the trompe l'oeil style in America. [8]

The Power Of The Press, 1903.

Still Life with Currency, 1895.

Still Life, 1903.

Georgia O'Keeffe

(1887 - 1986) was a modernist painter. O’Keeffe’s images — often instantly recognizable as her own — include large-scale flowers.

Grapes on White Dish, 1920.

Red Poppy, 1927.
Oriental Poppies, 1928.

Preston Dickinson

(1889–1930). Dickinson clearly enjoyed the geometry, ambiguous space, and multiple viewpoints of cubism. His still lifes have a grace, a precision, and an elegance that are remarkable. In modern art it is rare to see so high a finish carried out with complete gusto to the end... Still-life subjects gave Dickinson a golden opportunity to revel in his penchant for complex compositional construction, diverse objects, detailed patterning, as well as odd combinations of color.[9]