Robert Brackman On Sale
1960s Post-Modern Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Oil
People Also Browsed
20th Century Modern Interior Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Oil
21st Century and Contemporary Still-life Paintings
Oil
Mid-20th Century Unknown Paintings
Canvas, Wood, Paint
20th Century Contemporary Still-life Paintings
Oil
Artist Comments
A classic still life depicting a ceramic bottle and a half-peeled lemon with its peel twirling off the table. "I like to combine traditionalism with contemporar...
21st Century and Contemporary Still-life Paintings
Oil
Late 19th Century Realist Landscape Paintings
Oil
1930s American Realist Figurative Paintings
Oil
Late 20th Century American Modern Paintings
Canvas
20th Century European Paintings
Paint
Mid-20th Century Post-Impressionist Interior Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Mid-20th Century Swedish Modern Paintings
Other
21st Century and Contemporary Paintings
Paint
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Paintings
Canvas
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Paintings
Paint
Late 20th Century Paintings
Canvas, Paint
Recent Sales
1940s Realist Still-life Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Robert Brackman for sale on 1stDibs
Robert Brackman was an American artist and teacher of Ukrainian origin, best known for large figural works, portraits, and still lifes in the realist style. He was born in Odessa on September 25, 1898, and came to the United States in 1908. He studied at the National Academy of Design from 1919–21 and the Ferrer School in San Francisco. In New York, he also studied with Robert Henri and George Bellows at the National Academy of Design. From 1931, Brackman had a long career teaching at the Art Students League of New York and was a life member of the League. He also taught at the American Art School in New York City, the Brooklyn Museum School, the Lyme Academy of Fine Arts and the Madison Art School in Connecticut. As a portraitist, he painted notables including John D Rockefeller Jr., Charles Lindburgh and John Foster Dulles as well as portraits commissioned by the Air Force Academy and the State Department. Brackman died on July 16, 1980, in New London, Connecticut.
Finding the Right still-life-paintings for You
Still-life paintings work as part of the decor in nearly every type of space.
Still-life art, which includes work produced in media such as painting, photography, video and more, is a popular genre in Western art. However, the depiction of still life in color goes back to Ancient Egypt, where paintings on the interior walls of tombs portrayed the objects — such as food — that a person would take into the afterlife. Ancient Greek and Roman mosaics and pottery also often depicted food. Indeed, still-life paintings frequently feature food, flowers or man-made objects. By definition, still-life art represents anything that is considered inanimate.
During the Middle Ages, the still life genre was adapted by artists who illustrated religious manuscripts. A common theme of these paintings is the reminder that life is fleeting. This is especially true of vanitas, a kind of still life with roots in the Netherlands during the 17th century, which was built on themes such as death and decay and featured skulls and objects such as rotten fruit. In northern Europe during the 1600s, painters consulted botanical texts to accurately depict the flowers and plants that were the subject of their work.
Leonardo da Vinci’s penchant for observing phenomena in nature and filling notebooks with drawings and notes helped him improve as an artist of still-life paintings. Vincent van Gogh, an artist who made a couple of the most expensive paintings ever sold, carried out rich experiments with color over the course of painting hundreds of still lifes, and we can argue that Campbell’s Soup Cans (1961–62) by Andy Warhol counts as still-life art.
While early examples were primarily figurative, you can find still lifes that belong to different schools and styles of painting, such as Cubism, Impressionism and contemporary art.
As part of the wall decor in your living room, dining room or elsewhere, a still-life painting can look sophisticated alongside your well-curated decorative objects and can help set the mood in a space.
When shopping for a still-life painting, think about how it makes you feel and how the artist chose to represent its subject. When buying any art for your home, choose pieces that you connect with. If you’re shopping online, read the description of the work to learn about the artist and check the price and shipping information. Make sure that the works you choose complement or relate to your overall theme and furniture style. Artwork can either fit into your room’s color scheme or serve as an accent piece. Introduce new textures to a space by choosing an oil still-life painting.
On 1stDibs, find a collection of still-life paintings in a wide range of styles and subject matter.