The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

Still Life

Still Life

1930
(French, 1905–1977)
France, 20th century
gelatin silver print
Image: 22.4 x 16.5 cm (8 13/16 x 6 1/2 in.); Paper: 23.4 x 27 cm (9 3/16 x 10 5/8 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 2007.103
© Ministère de la Culture / Médiathèque du Patrimoine, Dist. RMN
Location: not on view

Description

A revolver, a pickaxe, dice, a bottle of rum, two glasses—one knocked over—suggest a tragic conflict, although we will never know. The newspaper is turned to the stock page, reminding us that 1930 was the beginning of the Great Depression. The stone sink surrounded by the dishes and serving bowls suggests the clean up from a hearty meal in rustic quarters, while the dirty sink with beakers and wash basin calls to mind the tools of the darkroom. Could the latter image be a self-portrait in the form of a still life? Did the photographer encounter this still life, or did he stage it?
  • The artist's estate, Paris
    (Grob Gallery, London)
    Michael Mattis [b.1960-1], New York, NY
    May 9, 2002
    (Sotheby's, London)
    2002-2007
    David Raymond [b.1979], New York, NY
    2007-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E. Hinson, Ian Walker, and Lisa Kurzner. Forbidden Games: Surrealist and Modernist Photography : the David Raymond Collection in the Cleveland Museum of Art. 2014. Reproduced: p. 191, no. 154; mentioned: p. 230; reproduced: p. 231.
  • Forbidden Games: Surrealist and Modernist Photography. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 19, 2014-January 11, 2015).
    Roger Parry: Vintage Photographs from the 1920s and 1930s. Zabriskie Gallery (February 11-March 15, 1986).
  • {{cite web|title=Still Life|url=false|author=Roger Parry|year=1930|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2007.103