Study of STILL LIFE WITH BOTTLES by Amedee Ozenfant - Grey Blue Collage Painting

Study of Amédée Ozenfant's "Still Life with Bottles"(2021) Acrylic, paper, and found objects on wood 17.25w x 18.10h x 0.90 inches- - -**PLEASE NOTE: - Last picture is of the actual painting by Ozenfant, shown for reference. All the rest of the pictures are of my study of his work- Wall preview picture is shown framed/matted for illustration purposes; piece is unframed________________________________________________ Amedee Ozenfant's paintings always intrigued me - his simple shapes yet stunning combinations of abstract and figurative elements give his work depth and feel - so I decided to do a study of one of my favorites paintings by him. ABOUT THE ORIGINAL PAINTING (that this study was done from)Still Life with Bottles is a 1922 painting by Amédée Ozenfant, a French painter who painted in the Cubist style. He along with Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (Le Corbusier) developed the Purist style of art, which existed from 1918-1925. Although Ozenfant was hostile towards what he saw as the ornamental distractions of the avant-garde, Purism was itself categorically modern. His still life (the genre of choice for the Purists) images featured simple groupings of mass-produced objects placed against a plain background. His paintings were executed with geometric clarity, mathematical accuracy, and smooth unbroken brushwork, that closely resembled architectural blueprints of building details. Reacting against Cubism, which he dismissed as a "decorative art of romantic ornament", Ozenfant conceived of a modern style of painting that promoted clarity, harmony, and precision, with a strongly defined architectural space. - - -At first glance this painting appears to be one more still life featuring bottles and glasses, this time painted predominantly in blue, grey, black, and white. However, as arts writer Suzanne Muchnic notes, the work exemplifies Purist ideals by merging "traditional still-life objects with architectural forms and references to modern industry. The overlapping cluster of bottles and drinking glasses can be read as architectural columns and smoke-stacks". Ozenfant and Le Corbusier themselves wrote (in their 1920 essay "Purism"), "Mechanical selection began with the earliest times and from these times provided objects whose general laws have endured; only the means of making them changed, the laws endured [...] In all ages, for example, man has created containers: vases, glasses, bottles, plates, which were built to suit the needs of maximum strength, maximum economy of materials, maximum economy of effort". They concluded that "the respect for the laws of physics and of economy in every age created highly selected objects; that these objects contain analogous mathematical curves with deep resonances; that these artificial objects obey the same laws as the products of natural selection and that, consequently, there reigns a total harmony, bringing together the only two things that interest the human being: himself and what he makes". ______________________ Lots of art has an agenda, a planned place it’s taking you. If you wanted to be taken somewhere you've already been, why look at art?Art is about discovery, about feeling the moment where the artist leapt, and leaping with them. Come along for the journey. | THE ART OF EVERYTHING |T A O - E **Original Art for Original People** ______________________