Artwork
Still Life
Still Life is an oil painting by the Realist artist John O'Brien Inman. It dates from 1868 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
- Inscription
- Inscribed:lower right: J. O'Brien Inman 1868
About this work
This painting shows a table covered with fruit, a glass, and a white cloth. The fruit looks real enough to pick up. Shadows from the fruit fall on the cloth.
The artist’s name is John O’Brien Inman. He painted this in 1868. It’s a simple scene, but the light feels warm and gentle.
Check out more work at the National Gallery of Art, Washington.
Technique & Style
Still Life by John O'Brien Inman is executed in oil on canvas, a traditional support for mid-nineteenth-century American still life painting.
Still Life by John O'Brien Inman is executed in oil on canvas, a traditional support for mid-nineteenth-century American still life painting. The work measures 39.37 by 46.67 centimeters, a modest, intimate scale suited to the genre. The painting is classified as a still life and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., having entered the institution as a gift in 2018. No further technical details regarding handling, condition, or specific stylistic qualities are documented in the available sources.
History & Provenance
John O'Brien Inman created the oil-on-canvas painting Still Life in 1868. The work's documented ownership history begins with Ross Kepler of Maplewood, New Jersey. Kepler sold the piece in 1994 to William H. and Abigail Booth Gerdts of New York, who retained it until 2018.
In that year, the Gerdtses donated the painting to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., based on documentation provided by Abigail Booth Gerdts.
The painting Still Life by John O'Brien Inman is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Its provenance traces from Ross Kepler in Maplewood, New Jersey, to William H. and Abigail Booth Gerdts of New York, who purchased the work in 1994. The Gerdts gifted the canvas to the National Gallery of Art in 2018. No specific inventory or accession number is provided in the available documentation, nor is there record of a prior exhibition history for this specific work in the provided sources.
Overview
John O'Brien Inman's Still Life, painted in 1868, is an oil on canvas composition. This work presents a modest arrangement of fruit, a glass, and a white cloth on a table. The painting exemplifies a traditional approach to the still life genre, focusing on the careful depiction of everyday objects.
It is characterized by its directness and a pervasive sense of soft, inviting light that illuminates the scene.
Subject & Meaning
The painting features a collection of fruit, a single glass, and a white cloth draped across a surface. Inman meticulously renders these elements, giving the fruit a palpable quality that suggests its ripeness and form. The composition emphasizes the interaction of light with these objects, evident in the distinct shadows they cast upon the fabric, which contribute to the scene's quiet depth and realism.
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Artist & collection
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