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• 1 2020-10-14T21:50:24+00:00 Flower Still Life 14 By: Angel Kaneb plain 2020-10-19T04:31:22+00:00 During the Renaissance women were looked at as child bearers and faithful wives. Little could be done if a woman wanted to pursue an interest of hers or into a field that was seen as that of a male. The sad reality was that even if you had skill most likely if you were a woman it could only be pursued as a nun or under an apprenticeship of a man. Even if that respect and privilege was given, woman still had to battle sexism and sexual pursuits by men. There are very few women of this time who stood out and were recognized as prominent artists. Maria Van Oosterwyck’s work Flower Still Life of 1966 is one of beauty. Done on “oil and panel” the vertical piece of art is split into two equal parts. The upper half of the hole contains a variety of flowers, a dragonfly, and a butterfly. The uppermost half and the borders of the painting are painted in black. The lower bottom half is split into two parts the first part below center contains a bowl that the flowers are in, which are resting on the table. The lowest part of the painting is the edge of the table, the straight line indicating the edge of the table in the center contains a glowing fly, to the left at the edge of the table is another bug and to the right at the edge of the table is a butterfly. At first glance this seems to be an ordinary painting, but looking closer and having knowledge of art you will see the amount of talent that went into this piece of work. Maria Van Oosterwyck uses her Flower of Life as a punch in the face to men that women are as talented through her use of depth, color and hue, and attention to detail.
  During the renaissance Women were not as acknowledged in the art-field as men were and recognition was far harder for women to receive if they ever reached such a point. Maria Van Oosterwyck spent a long time on every single one of her paintings and it is very apparent in her Flower Still Life. To distinguish yourself as an artist you have to have talent. A feature that was very hard to get into painting is the use of depth and dimension. Oosterwyck uses the color of black to show the absence of light. The absence of light allows the viewer to focus on the subject which is the filled flower vase on top of the table. There is also an element of pure darkness which makes it look like a photo. The table is shown as three-dimensional through sharp lines and the top of the table being a lighter shade. Different shades are also used to prevent the image from looking flat. For example, right of center is a giant leaf with lot of detail. The viewer can see different shades of green which define the folds and veins like a normal leaf. The leaf is almost popping out of the painting. Even the butterfly in the top half has different shades of yellow and orange to distinguish the layers of the wings. The wing furthest back is a darker hue whereas the wings closer to the viewer are lighter and more detailed. The light color along the edges of the wing against the black add even more depth and define the shape of the butterfly even further.
              There is a focus on bright colored hues against darker hues to further depth, but her focus was on making things as “natural” as possible. The brighter hues are centered around the middle of the painting which is the center of attention for the on looker. The hues blue and orange are actually complimentary to each other and are very close to one another. Alongside the compliments red and green all being centered in the painting create a balance and more refined painting. Maria was not messing around with her choice of colors, in fact one of her favorite colors to use was this “acidic yellow-orange” which was strategically placed in all her works. The hues get darker as your attention goes further into the outskirts of the painting all the way to the edges. The one exception is the bright orange on the butterfly at the bottom right of the painting. This was done purposefully and will be covered later on. Another key use of hue is the use of pink. In the center of the painting there is a big bright pink flower. To show the different pedals and how the light musty have been hitting the flower the softer pinks are on the edges and the outside pedals and slowly cascades into darker more defined pink hues.
              Throughout the painting the viewer can see places where Oosterwyck really wanted the viewer to look at. Water in bowls can be rather hard to replicate. It’s a very small detail but one that shows a lot of promise and skill. If you look very closely on the left of the vase you can see the reflection of the windows that must have been behind Oosterwyck while painting. There is a contrast between the black vase and the little white curved rectangles which give off a realistic look as if this were a captured photograph. The leave branch that the dragonfly is nestled upon is also slighting reflected on the bottom right of the vase. The more that is depicted the more realistic the vase looks. Also, if you zoom in on the leaf that the dragon fly is on you can see the translucence by seeing detailed parts of the white flower through the actual wings. To depict such details shows how skilled Oosterwyck was as a female painter.
              Oosterwycks’s paintings are rather rare due to her attention to detail to get the most naturalistic looks. She was known for being “modest and unusually religious.” To the viewer it was made apparent when she wanted to include this in one of her paintings. In particular Flower Still Life needs to be looked into deeper to find her overall message. She is known for including a red Admiral butterfly. And in this particular painting it is in the bottom right. The wings are half open and there is attention to every detail of that butterfly. Without some knowledge it just looks like a very detailed and beautiful butterfly that draws the attention of the viewer. That being said and knowing her religious background one can look beyond the beauty of the butterfly and see the underlining religious meaning. Oosterwyck used this butterfly in particular to symbolize Christ and his resurrection, but also hope. She was able to have a lot of time in making these paintings due to her apprenticeships and having her own studio. Adding this butterfly to almost all her paintings clearly shows her devotion to god and giving the viewer inspiration into the deeper meaning of what seems to be a simplistic still life.
  Maria Van oh was one of the few distinguished women artists of her time. She can be recognized for having her own art studio. Her painting began due to her own passion rather than having someone in the family was already in the art, which was a rather unusual for the time. Her success can be measured to her paintings but also those to Boston “such as France’s Louis XIV, Leopold, the Holy Roman Emperor of Austria and England’s William III.”  Her defined skills are what made her a revolutionist for women then and in the future. Maria’s use of depth showed her skill in three dimensional perspectives. Her use of color and hue created balance with the dark and bold background. The most prominent skills were her attention to making everything as realistic to make her art natural. The combination of these skills gave her the title of one of “the most highly esteemed Dutch woman artists…”