Looking at the Overlooked: Four Essays on Still Life Painting

If you're wavering on your decision to purchase this work, just go for it. I took a seminar from Professor Bryson one semester, and let me tell you, this man simply exists on a whole different intellectual level. He constantly confronts and re-perceives art and artistic theory, pushing your mind to process visual information in radically different ways.

There is not much literature available on the subject of still life painting that goes beyond the obvious surface information. This is the first review of the history of still life painting which reexamines the human implications of different still life ideas throughout history. The four essays are in depth explorations of the challenging questions asked by seemingly ordinary subject matter and the formal ways in which artists engage these concepts. I wish I would have known about this book years ago.

In many american universities there is a sharp division between the classic art historians and the linguistics-inclined post modernists. Bryson's range encompasses both.

This small and highly accessible book reflects on the significance of the slighted area of still life painting. It is a gentle and reflective reminder of the significance of domesticity and the interior in painting.