Still Life with Garlic, 1887

Carl Schuch (1846–1903) chooses a narrow picture detail in his painting Still Life with Garlic and renders the objects in a slight top view. Against the background of a nondescript dark room, a jug, books, garlic, a loosely folded piece of cloth and an apple are seen on a rough plank table. The items look like taken out of their respective contexts and arranged into a still life with free and brisk brushwork solely on the basis of their colors and shapes. Shades of white, gray, black and brown are dominant, creating an intense light-dark contrast. The only object that looks shiny is the apple, rendered in only bright colors, which makes it the eye-catcher of the picture. Schuch is considered a gifted colorist, who also dealt intensively with color and perception theories. From 1882 to 1894 he lived in Paris, where he found important inspiration. His free play with colors and color fields is resonant with echoes of Édouard Manet (1832–1883) and Paul Cézanne (1839–1906).

AGW, 2021