Art Essay

Tamasine McNamara

Discuss how issues and ideas have influenced the representation of objects in the artwork you have selected.

Artists representation of objects are influenced by the issues and ideas in the

world. Juan Gris' Ð''The cups of tea' is an artwork that was influenced by the world around him. His portrayel of a cafÐ"©

with tea was inspiered by the changing of the world. He challenged the traditions of still life and used alternative

styles and techniques as a depiction of these changes.

Juan Gris' Ð''The cups of tea' Ð''The cups of tea' is outside mainstream by

challengeing traditional still life that is vanitas. Vanitas is a type of realistic

and symbolic still life painting commonly executed by in the sixteenth and

seventeenth centuries. The term vanitas itself refers to the arts, learning and

time. The word is Latin, meaning "vanity, Paintings executed in the vanitas

style are meant as a reminder of the transience of life, the futility of

pleasure, and the certainty of death, encouraging a sombre world view.

Common vanitas symbols include skulls, which are a reminder of the certainty

of death; rotten fruit, which symbolizes decay; bubbles, which symbolize the

brevity of life and suddenness of death; smoke, watches, and hourglasses,

which symbolize the brevity of life; and musical instruments, which symbolize

brevity and the ephemeral nature of life.

In contrast to Vanitas this artwork is influenced by cubism. In cubist

artworks, objects are broken up, analyzed, and re-assembled in an abstracted

form, instead of depicting objects from one viewpoint, the artist depicts the

subject from a multitude of viewpoints to represent the subject in a greater

context

This artwork is made up from different perspectives pieced together to form

a 2D representation of a cafÐ"© table with teacups and a newspaper. However

there are hints of 3D aspects produced by the collage of objects.

Consequently this style of abstraction is similar to Pablo Picasso's Ð''Still Life

with Chair-Caning'. This is presented through the use of similar colours,

distorted perspectives and use of the object actually in the artwork.

Subsequently by being unrealistic, using multiple perspectives and

incorporating the still life into his work the general traditions of still life are

omitted as