Still Life with Brioches 1916 - 1917

Curator: Immediately, I am struck by how solid and yet…untethered this all feels. Editor: You’ve keyed into a very interesting aspect of this painting. This is "Still Life with Brioches," rendered by Othon Friesz circa 1916-1917, here at the SMK. Look closely; Friesz plays with perspective in that deliberate flattening of the space, the near-absence of shadows that almost anchors the objects. It’s Post-Impressionist, dabbling in Fauvist color, which he likely encountered by knowing Matisse, Derain and others from his time in Le Havre and Paris. But, this is not about shock but comfort with visual harmonies, a feast of everyday domestic production for the eye and the stomach. Curator: Domestic comfort made during total war in France, huh? This is much darker then. When I look at it with this new perspective, the vibrant hues don't distract but rather call for a second viewing into something heavier...a kind of naive art, as the tags highlight? A yearning maybe? The pastries have this gleam as if just out the oven, ready for consumption... it creates this sense of... anticipation amidst what you have exposed as the background’s social suffering. Editor: Precisely! And let's delve into his process for a moment. The medium here is oil on canvas, a testament to Friesz's craft but also revealing the socio-economic dimension inherent in accessing artistic production in the moment when most would be contributing to the war. Curator: You can sense that tactile quality in Friesz's brushstrokes. He builds form and captures light with confident strokes...I almost get an aftertaste feeling by contemplating at the image…almost wanting to feel the fresh pastries' sweetness on my palate as you talk about the socio-economical landscape that made Friesz want to depict them in the first place… It’s not quite realism; more an impression filtered through memory, making the pastries almost like a character. Editor: The materiality speaks, doesn’t it? The layered oils, the woven canvas – all echo Friesz’s own labor. It allows us to connect viscerally to both artist and object as we engage in social practice while looking back from the safe confines of today. Curator: In my way, I sense Friesz offers solace amidst war’s stark realities, weaving warmth into the domestic realm through mere oil and cloth! I cannot stop myself from imagining my taste buds being ravished. Editor: I would be lying if said otherwise from the enjoyment that art and culture give me through the mere vision of it. It just goes to show the potent intersection between the personal and political.