The Dead Artists Gallery presents “Grapes, Pears and Apples”

O/Canvas

Signed L/R “V. (Victor) DiRosa”

This exquisitely executed study of summer fruit in a ceramic bowl, was completed by the New York still life artist, DiRosa, about 1940. The incredible trompe l’œil here is executed with minute brushstrokes blended together, removing the artists’ hand all together. This piece would be well suited for a close encounter in which the viewer would more adequately appreciate the almost individual, fine-tipped strokes that highlight the roundedness of the grapes.

Although the historical resonance of still life as a genre is allegorical- the rotting fruit and broken glass which represented the ephemerality of earthly delights for the Calvinist Dutch of the 17th and 18th centuries- still life soon became an intellectual and academic exercise for artists. By the late 1800s, the purely object-based study of still life turns the canvas into a compositional sandbox, in which artists can experiment with lighting conditions, the composition of the objects on the canvas and the composition of objects in real space.

 23 x 27 in contemporary French frame

$650