Still-Life

Still-life paintings are rare in Robert Duncanson’s oeuvre; only seven such canvases are known today. In the fashion of most still-life specialists, he included a variety of food:  apples, grapes, oranges, raisins, nuts, pineapples, and honeycombs. The last two items were considered exotic and often were included in Victorian still lifes; in the South the pineapple was a symbol of hospitality. The still life we present today is a transitional piece, exhibiting characteristics typical of both early- and mid-19th-century American still-life paintings, due in part to the date of the painting and to the fact that it was painted in a frontier environment, which slightly lagged behind the East in artistic developments. 

We celebrate Black History Month every February. Robert Duncanson was a 19th-century American landscapist of European and African ancestry. Inspired by famous American landscape artists like Thomas Cole, Duncanson created renowned landscape paintings and is considered a second-generation Hudson River School artist. As a free black man in antebellum America, Duncanson engaged the abolitionist community in America and England to support and promote his work. He is considered the first African American artist to be internationally known.

P.S. Another Duncanson still life is featured in our Food & Drinks 50 Postcard Set.  :)