OFFICIAL52 According to the professor, why did artists like James Peale adopt a scientific approach to still-life painting?

[00:00.00]NARRATOR: Listen to part of a lecture in an art class.[00:06.00]MALE PROFESSOR: This week you're going to be starting something new…painting a still life. [00:10.70]First I wanted to give you a little background…that might be helpful when you start working.[00:16.00]We’ve spent a lot of time on portraits in this class, and moving from painting people to painting objects might feel like a big shift, [00:25.00] but… I think it's important for you to understand that you can pack just as much life, and vibrancy, and excitement, into a painting of a bowl of fruit, as you can into something more dynamic.
[00:37.00]And you know, still lifes don't just need to be straightforward representations…. [00:42.70]A lot of still-life painters really use the simplicity of the style to send a message, or—or tell a story. Even portraits sometimes include elements of still-life paintings; [00:55.10] for example, in a portrait there might be a map hanging on the wall, or there might be some books on a table next to the subject. [01:03.20] These objects tell you something about the subject, like, [00:59.80]uh, maybe that person was well educated.
[01:09.50] A big part of still-life painting is the use of those kinds of symbols—[01:14.80]the objects you include can provide more context and help convey your message.[01:20.50] I’d also like to show everyone an example of still life, that we can talk about a little and…ah, and use—to get some inspiration.
[01:28.50]This is by James Peale, one of the true masters of the art of still life. [01:34.50]This piece is called Still Life: Balsam Apple and Vegetables, [01:39.70]and it's a really, really great example of what I’m going to be looking for in your painting.
[01:45.50]Now, Peale did his work in the early nineteenth century, [01:49.44]and painters of that period approached still-life painting from a scientific perspective…. [01:55.30]Let’s look at this painting to help you understand what I mean. [01:58.66]See the red tomatoes in the foreground, and how vibrant that color is? [02:03.60]And if you look at the large heads of cabbage farther back, every detail—every crinkle in each leaf, all the folds, are so precise, [02:13.60]they're almost like a sketch you'd see in a field guide. [02:16.80]Peale, and other painters of his era, used still-life painting as a way of, ah, of exploring the natural world, and satisfying their curiosity about nature.
[02:28.60]So now we can take some time to discuss a little more of, more about the…the actual process, of uh… still-life painting. [02:38.00]Now, before you paint a single stroke, you've got to plan the composition of your painting—[02:44.00]you know, the arrangement of the objects, to make sure everything is set up the way you want it. [02:49.30] I remember a still-life piece I painted when I was at university.…[02:53.80]It was vegetables, I think, and I had created sketches of the setting—[02:58.20]but then realized that the arrangement of the vegetables in a basket just, ugh, just didn't look right…[03:05.10]so I had to start over. [03:06.70]So I can say from experience, it's really important to make sure your arrangement is just right before you even start painting.
[03:14.60]Now, what are some ways to make sure the composition of your painting is the way you want it to be? [03:21.00]Well, it’s important in a still life to make sure you're not overdoing the amount of positive space—the amount of stuff, in your piece. [03:30.70]A still life really is not just about the subject matter…. [03:35.30]If you make a really cluttered composition with too much going on, it can throw off your painting. [03:41.60] That's something you notice in the James Peale painting. [03:45.30] Notice how it really, you know, it makes great use of negative space. You can see how he…sort of embraces those little empty spots on the table…[03:45.30]and-and that adds a really nice sense of balance.
[04:01.20]Also—try to make your still life look natural—[04:04.80]if it looks contrived, and if—if it's obvious a person deliberately arranged everything, it takes away from the simplicity and the natural feel of the work. [04:14.70] Basically, the best still life paintings are the ones where the objects don’t look arranged for the painting at all, but that those tomatoes are near that cabbage on a table by accident.