Art theme: still life

Historically, 'still life' was a category of painting typically featuring objects such as fruit, flowers, insects and/or countless collectables. Some objects were invested with symbolic value, e.g. the flower can be a metaphor of life and death – beautiful in bloom, but quick to fade. Paintings were traditionally small in scale to hang in people's homes rather than in public spaces.

In recent times, still life appears in art in various forms from the abstracted (simplified but still recognisable) to the entirely abstract (not recognisable as anything in reality, but perhaps reduced to its essential shape or basic form). Still life can even be represented in the form of the 'found object' (an actual vase or table, etc.) and assembled and documented to become 'art'.

Look, describe and discuss

Open a full-screen version of the zoomable image in a new window.

Ask your students to describe the artwork, encouraging them to simply say what they can see.

You can start by showing the whole image, and then use the zoom feature to explore details of the painting. Or you might like to start by using the zoom feature to show a detail from the image, and then zoom out to see more.

Encourage your students to look carefully – this is their superpower! It's best to not give too much background information about the artwork at this stage, so students can develop their own ideas and opinions.

An audio description of the painting is available to listen to during this stage. It is accompanied by a full written transcript which can also be used to describe the painting.

Nudge questions

Now when looking at the painting, ask more specific ('nudge') questions:

• What do you notice about the people in the painting?
• What are they doing at this moment in time? What are all the objects on display for?
• By looking at the clues, have you been able to find out anything about the people's personalities or identities?
• What might you be able to smell if you were transported into the painting?
• How would you describe the mood of this painting? Why do you think this?

Questions from the Superpower of Looking Kit

Now we can start to explore the 'elements' of the painting.

For this artwork, you will focus on:

• Figures (expression and gesture) 
• Colour
• Light

Ask your students to evidence their points;

• where exactly are they looking when they make a statement?
• can everybody see what they see?
• slow down, take time to really look closely

You can introduce knowledge from the contextual background for teachers while asking these bespoke questions with helpful responses which can be found in the teachers' notes.

Everyone learning

You can find out more about The Superpower of Looking SEND/ASD/ALN/ASN approach on the Superpower homepage.

Now it's time to explore the artwork in different ways. This list of sensory activities encourages students to apply their learning and can suit a variety of learning needs.

Make
We suggest creative activities for all learners, including a tactile option to support students with vision impairment: these activities explore the tactile qualities of materials or involve gestural mark-making to further explore the artwork.

• In small groups, devise a scene like the one in the painting. Use a torch to experiment with lighting. Which figures and objects in their scene will students spotlight with their torch? Photograph the scene.
• Tactile option: there are two clay jugs on the table in the bottom right of the painting, both of which have ridges around their surfaces. Try making coil pots out of clay or plasticene, by rolling a long ‘snake’ and coiling it around to form the base and sides of a pot. The inside of the pot can be gently smoothed together with the thumb.
  
  

Experience

• Listen to the sound of eggs frying to set the scene! Invite students to move like the sound! Then invite the students to move like the two figures. Do their movements become slower? Remember, this painting is considered a still life!

• Listen to the audio description of the painting. 

• Set up a sensory experience! Feel the textures of the objects in the painting: the wood of the spoon, the onion, the clay and metal of the cooking vessels, and the wicker of the basket. Use smell too: an onion, or dried spices. If you have a pestle and mortar, try crushing peppercorns (watch out for your eyes!).
  
  

Communicate

• Talking with a partner: look at all the food ingredients in the painting. Now invent a meal using dishes made from just those ingredients.
• With a partner, can students imagine what conversation the two figures are having? What do students think they are saying? 

Final stage: review

Ask your students to:

• share their sketchbooks in groups and discuss the 'elements' they have identified
• choose an element/aspect they find most interesting about the artwork and record it in their sketchbooks
• choose their own name/s for the title of the artwork
• think of a question they would like to ask the artist

Congratulations!

You have now completed this lesson resource on The Superpower of Looking.

There are more resources in this theme to try – have a look at the 'next lessons' section below.