Still-Life with Pear and Bowls

Paul Strand

1916

Silver platinum print

J. Paul Getty Museum

A still life composition features a single pear in the foreground, with several white bowls and plates arranged behind it. Strong shadows create a dramatic contrast. Paul Strand's shifting perspective on art is reflected in the austere title he assigned to this and other photographs made around 1916. During that summer he went to his family's cottage at Twin Lakes, Connecticut, where he experimented with creating a number of abstract compositions. Inspired by modern art of the time, in particular Cubism, where an object is deconstructed and visually analyzed to depict multiple viewpoints simultaneously, Strand explored the formal elements of objects within the parameters of photography. In this still life with pear and bowls, he removes the dishes from any known context, presenting them stacked