Still-life 1924

This "Still-life," by Patrick Henry Bruce, is rendered with the traditional fine art medium of oil paint. But this is no ordinary still life. Bruce isn’t interested in emulating reality. Instead, he reduces forms to basic geometric shapes, carefully arranged and colored. He's playing with the basic vocabulary of art, highlighting the materiality of paint itself, the way it can be mixed, layered, and applied to create different effects. Look closely, and you can see the texture of the brushstrokes, the subtle variations in color and tone. These are not the slick surfaces of mass production. The work's abstraction reflects a machine aesthetic, mirroring the industrialized world that was emerging in the early 20th century. It’s a still life, yes, but one made in conversation with the aesthetics of industrial production. Bruce challenges the traditional hierarchy between fine art and the world of design and industry.