Anything but “Still”: Women Artists & Floral Still Lifes

We are excited to partner with the Carriage Barn to bring you another event in our Women in the Arts Lecture Series.

Professor Page Knox joins us for a discussion of the fascinating female flower painters and their extraordinary still lifes, as they used the genre to create exquisite works of art and to establish themselves in eras ranging from Renaissance Italy and the Dutch Golden Age to the time of the French Royal Academy and today’s contemporary art world.

With flowers as the centerpiece, often accompanied by fruits, insects, and a wide variety of containers, floral still lifes are among some of the most innovative types of painting in early modern Europe. Although the subject matter may seem straightforward, these artworks link art and science in a period of increased observation of the natural world and horticultural exchange, while holding onto symbolic associations that often served as the focus for devotional practices.

The floral still life offered opportunities to ambitious female artists at a time when social conventions highly restricted their artistic training, and provided a vehicle to rise in their respective art worlds in spite of cultural restrictions.

Dr. Page Knox is an adjunct professor in the Art History Department of Columbia University. She works in a variety of capacities as a contractual lecturer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art where she gives public gallery talks and lectures in special exhibitions as well as the permanent collection, teaches classes at the museum, and leads groups for Indagare and Travel with the Met.