Stilleven

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To wild places and the haunting call of the curlew

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StillevenPhotographs by Simon Upton

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I have chosen Stilleven, the Dutch for still life, as the title for this series of photographs in homage to the Dutch tradition of still life in art,

exemplified in the 17th-century by artists including Jan Weenix, Willem van Aelst, Frans Snyders and Jan Fyt.

Part of this genre is given to game birds and hunted animals, such as the ‘bag’ from a day’s hunting and the ‘tableau de chasse’, while

images including birds for the table have been depicted in early Roman frescoes as well as by the 16th-century painter, Cranach the Elder, in

his work Four Dead Partridge (c1532).

At the turn of the 17th-century artists in Italy and Spain as well as Flanders painted naturalistic still-life details as complete works. Notably

Juan Sanchez Cotan (1560-1627) of Toledo whose works, Still life with Quince, Cabbage, Melon and Cucumber (c1600) & Still life with Game

Fowl (c1600), are striking for the novelty of composition and subject matter, appearing remarkably modern even today. Alejando de Loarte (1600-

1626) continued in this style, Still Life with Game and Fruit (1623). It is worth mentioning the intricate wood carvings of Grinling Gibbons (1648-

1721) for whom hanging game birds were a key motif.

Still life painting of 'nature morte' was embraced in the 18th-century by such greats as Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1681-1755) and Jean Siméon

Chardin (1699-1779). In this area of still life many paintings single out and monumentalise one bird or animal, providing us with an

analytical objectivity.

Jennifer Higgie (editor of Frieze) wrote of Chardin’s composition: ‘Chardin positioned his still lifes in the middle of the picture plane, pushed

up close to the edge of the table, a device which separates them from the viewer as surely as a stage separates an audience from the

players.’ In respect of his content, Higgie continued: ‘despite the fact that Chardin’s pictures are full of dead things, they are strangely

reassuring. Perhaps it’s because the death he describes is more of a benign carnage, or at least a deep sleep, than annihilation.’

Pierre Rosenberg (French Art Historian) wrote of Oudry: ‘he was trying to reproduce matter and texture exactly, trying to catch glints of light

and the quality of the shadows, the delicate breath of the objects and beings, and the air surrounding them.’ His critique of Chardin’s Wild

Rabbit with Game Bag and Powder Flask is equally complimentary. ‘Beyond the formal beauty of the piece, beyond the intelligence of the

layout, the vibrancy of the composition and the pulsating light, we find the solemnity and tenderness when faced with death that distinguishes

Chardin’s work from that of other painters of animals.’

In the 19th-century, the genre was adopted by Francisco de Goya with both Still Life with Woodcock and Duck (c1808-12). Then by Paul

Cézanne, when he painted Still life with Game Birds (1872/3), and in the 20th-century among others by Lucian Freud’s Dead Heron (1945). The

influence spread further into the medium of film under director Peter Greenaway, who was clearly influenced by van Aelst.

The success of all these artists has changed the way in which we look at dead birds, at a jug, a cup, a vase of flowers or even a piece of

cheese. Birds, which have been either caught by a falcon or shot, have transcended from being simply dead birds to symbols of food or the

wealth and lifestyle of the landowner who hunted them. In death, a bird becomes symbolic of fragility and grace, its beauty preserved in its

loss of life.

The treatment of death in art is key to our association with and appreciation of such images and separates the genre from the more

disquieting connection of death with suffering, which is more the realm of ‘shock art’. I think that Rosenberg’s description of Chardin’s Hare

with Powder Flask and Game Bag is the antithesis to sensationalism. ‘The hare is presented barely stiff, vulnerable in the soft suppleness of death.’

This kind of imagery allows us to wonder and marvel at the beauty of an object. By removing birds, especially game birds, from the scene

of their death, and placing them carefully, even lovingly, in positions of rest, elegance and grace, we are able more easily to appreciate their

extraordinary beauty: their feathers, markings, colouring, pattern and form. With their corpses staged and bathed in a soft light, I will still feel

a sorrow, even remorse, at the passing of something so beautiful, but have learned nonetheless to appreciate that beauty.

My interest in game birds can be traced back to my early childhood and my family’s obsession with falconry, which allowed me to come

into contact with a variety of these beautiful creatures, in life as well as in death. Learning to appreciate something in death is not only a big

step, but also a confusing one. For me, far beyond the acceptance or justification that something can be a source of food, is the appreciation

of its life in its death. I believe this to be of real importance and potentially the greatest significance of the work of these still life painters.

Stilleven is a celebration of the life and beauty of the wonderful birds and animals that enhance and play an integral part in our world. They

are but a tiny speck in Nature’s extraordinary spectrum, yet are mesmeric in their range of attributes. If we are to believe Darwin, game birds

are the result of millennia of perfecting all the attributes needed to be the fastest, best camouflaged, most manoeuvrable, capable and

adaptable feeder, yet anyone who has held a game bird will also have been struck by its breath-taking marking and natural grace.

I hope that this series of photographs reveals not only the wonderful intricacy of the beauty Nature has created, but that birds and animals

are as beautiful in death as in life, where death can only come after life.

Stilleven

Simon Upton, September 2012

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"Go like a woodcock,

and thrust your neck i’ th’ noose."

from Beaumont and Fletcher's "Loyal Subject" 1647

p3. Woodcock 5. (Scolopax rusticola) p5. Mixed Bag 2. (Cock Pheasant, Teal Drake, Woodcock,

Rabbit, Grey Partridge, Red-legged Partridge, Brown Hare)

p6.Cock Pheasant 3. (Phasianus colchicus)

List of plates

p7.Woodcock 15. (Scolopax rusticola) p8.Wood-pigeon 2. (Columba palumbus) p9. Wood-pigeon 3. (Columba palumbus)

p10/11. Teal Drake, Wood-pigeon, Woodcock 1

(Anas crecca, Columba palumbus, Scolopax rusticola)

p12. Woodcock, Grey Partridge, Teal 2

(Scolopax rusticola, Perdix perdix, Anas crecca)

p13. Woodcock, Grey Partridge 2

(Scolopax rusticola, Perdix perdix)

p14. Teal Duck 8 (Anas crecca) p15. A Brace of Red-legged Partridge 15

(Alectoris rufa)

p16/17. Teal Drake 6 (Anas crecca)

p18. Grey Partridge 4 (Perdix perdix) p19. Teal Drake, Cock Pheasant, Grey Partridge & Woodcock

(Anas crecca, Phasianus colchicus, Perdix perdix, Scolopax rusticola)

p20.Grey Partridge 5 (Perdix perdix)

p21. A Brace of Grouse 1

(Lagopus lagopus)

p22/23.Woodcock, Teal Drake, Teal Duck 2

(Scolopax rusticola, Anas crecca)

p24. A Brace of Grouse 4

(Lagopus lagopus)

p25. Cock Pheasant, Red-legged Partridge,

Woodcock, Rabbit 2

(Phasianus colchicus, Alectoris rufa, Scolopax rusticola,

Oryctolagus cuniculus)

p26. Grey Partridge 7

(Perdix perdix)

p27. Woodcock 8

(Scolopax rusticola)

p28.Cock Pheasant 1

(Phasianus colchicus)

p29.Woodcock 7

(Scolopax rusticola)

p30. Brown Hare 2

(Lepus europaeus)

p31.Teal Drake 3

(Anas crecca)

p32. Wood-pigeon 7

(Columba palumbus)

p33. Woodcock, Grey Partridge, Teal Drake 3

(Scolopax rusticola, Perdix perdix, Anas crecca)

p34. Hare, Woodcock, Grey Partridge 1

(Lepus europaeus, Scolopax rusticola, Perdix perdix)

p35 .Red-legged Partridge 12

(Alectoris rufa)

p36.Red-legged Partridge 16

(Alectoris rufa)

p37.Woodcock 4

(Scolopax rusticola)

p38.Mountain Hare 3

(Lepus timidus)

p39.A Brace of Grouse 10

(Lagopus lagopus)

`

p40/41.Grey Partridge 3

(Perdix perdix)

p42.Teal Drake 2

(Anas crecca)

p43. Teal Duck 2 (Anas crecca)

p44.A Brace of Grouse 5

(Lagopus lagopus)

p645.A Brace of Grouse 6

(Lagopus lagopus)

p47. Woodcock 16

(Scolopax rusticola)

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© Simon Upton 2012

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