Emil Filla, 1882-1953
Still life with pear, 1914
Oil on wood, sand
The result of Modernist artistic efforts was a new way of seeing the world. As was the case with contemporary scientists, artists also strove for an analysis with a view that allowed them to see the essence of things. Between 1912 and 1914, the structured surfaces of Analytical Cubism were replaced by paintings onto which artists pasted references from the outside world (paper, sand, wood, etc.). This new tendency entered the history of art as Synthetic Cubism and was prevalent in still life paintings. In the collection of the Town Gallery, this subsequent phase of Cubism is represented by Emil Filla’s Still Life with Pear. Filla stuck grains of sand into the surface of the still life created by analytical fragmentation. A richer palette of colours replaced the grey and brown tones of his previous paintings.
