Notes

Marion Arnold has noted how objects in still life compositions are “assembled with intent and arranged to convey order or informality”.¹ She describes how, effectively, the artist first creates a sculpture which is then translated from its three-dimensional reality into a two-dimensional impression on a flat surface where the paint is arranged either to be true to the form it describes or, the artist “[takes] license with the source to serve the needs of the emerging image”.² Irma Stern was not one for mimicry. On the contrary, during the process of translating the real object to the pictorial surface, rather than rendering a reflection of what was before her, she would distort and manipulate to achieve the emotional effect she desired. She had no desire to remove the signs of her creative process from the canvas surface. Convinced by the language of Modernism, painting, to her, was not a ‘window onto the world beyond’ but a physical object comprising paint and canvas that was intended to generate an effect or emotional response. There was no attempt at mimesis or reproduced reality.

A supreme colourist, Stern was particularly gifted in the construction of compositions and the application of tone and colour. In the present example, the dark vase in the centre is set off against the bright, white cloth which effectively leads the viewer’s eye from three sides into the heart of the composition. This is further contrasted with the lime background which, being a cool colour, recedes against the warmth of the red surface upon which the vase, aubergine and white cloth are placed. The black vessel on the left margin completes the continuity of the composition as it brings the view from the dark, central forms which lead in from the right across the image to the left margin, which is then highlighted with the splashes of bright red colouring in the form of the lilies above which serve to counter balance the red surface of the extreme foreground. Still Life with Red Lilies and Aubergine is a compelling example of the artist’s compositional and colouring mastery.

¹ Marion Arnold. (1995) Irma Stern: A Feast for the Eye. Stellenbosch: Rembrandt van Rijn Art Foundation. Page 126.
² Ibid.