SIZE MATTERS
Many years ago, when I was thinking about doing some still lifes, I bought a book published by Abrams called Still Life: A History. In it I found a painting by Giovanni Boldini, Corner of the Painter’s Table. It was an oil on canvas from 1890, and the dimensions seemed odd to me: 47 1/4 inches by 15 1/4 inches, or 120 x 38.5 cm.
I wondered if Boldini had chosen that format because of the influence of Japonisme on painting at the time.
I loved everything about the painting: the sweeping diagonal, the muted color, the linen, porcelain, glass, and silver. But what I especially loved was the format. I immediately set out to experiment with that long, narrow proportion in my own work.
My first version kept the diagonal, the linen, the glass, and the silver. My second version added Brush Stroke china and a René Lalique vase into the mix.
Leslie Parke, "Still Life with Onions", oil on linen, Private Collection, ©1999 Leslie Parke.
I have continued to play with this format over the years.
Leslie Parke, "Koi Forth", oil on linen, Private Collection, © 2006 Leslie Parke
Then, while doing some research on Monet, I came across White Poppy, a long, narrow flower painting from 1883. It was not exactly the same size as the Boldini, but the proportions were close enough to catch my attention.
Claude Monet, "White Poppy", 128.5 x 37.0 cm, oil on canvas, 1883. Private Collection, Japan.
While not exactly the 120 x 38.5 cm of the Boldini, clearly the proportions were the same. What I found next answered all:
Claude Monet, "The Door Panels of Durand-Ruel's Drawing Room"
In 1882, Monet was commissioned to paint panels for several doors in Paul Durand-Ruel’s drawing room on the Rue de Rome in Paris. Monet was still living in Poissy when the commission began. The project dragged on as he moved to Giverny and then went on a painting trip to Bordighera, which explains why Mediterranean subjects entered the group.
The paintings were made on canvas, then stretched on thin stretchers so they could be installed directly on the doors.
It seems highly likely to me that Boldini’s Corner of the Painter’s Table was painted with a similar installation in mind.
That may be what first caught me. Not just the still life, and not just the beautiful diagonal, but the sense that the painting had once belonged to a room. The size was not incidental. It carried the memory of its use.
Books mentioned:
Still Life: A History
Monet: Catalogue Raisonné
Museum note:
Museo Giovanni Boldini is in Ferrara, Italy. Check the museum’s current visitor information before making plans, as access and installation details can change.
More on Monet, Giverny, and the long afterlife of Impressionism in my own work: