The writer Elizabeth Gilbert recently said in an interview that the lockdown made her notice the everyday acts of caring for herself as moments of gratitude. I think often of what makes up our lives and how to instill these smaller aspects of gratitude. In a week when Christmas consumerism has already taken over a day of gratitude, I feel like the small daily revolution might be held in the details of our lives. These items painted below may not be exactly what will be adorning your Thanksgiving tables this week, but I do find this painting quite specific and delicious. The details of the small items drive this painting. My first real experience of Dutch painting was during a 2011 exhibition at the Legion of Honor celebrating a collector’s extensive collection. I had yet to experience the great halls of European collections. The paintings seemed to jump off the walls. I had never seen so many Dutch paintings in one place, the grand tradition and established artistic movement in the art history canon was evident. Exotic animals, royal portraits, and flowers adorned the galleries. But, I was quite drawn to still lives that were incredibly dramatic. I revisit still lives often, particularly in digital archives because I am able to sit with the images for as long as I would like. I always wondered what compelled artists to spend so much time with everyday items. I do see still life paintings as meditations on gratitude. Spending time with what brings us life, the small items that bring us comfort, and what items we surround ourselves with each day. From these paintings, you get a true sense of what the artist was trying to achieve. And no painters have done still lives better than the Dutch. Here, a leading Dutch artist of the 17th century, Clara Peeters pioneered the art of still lives.

My eyes are immediately attracted to the red and pink tones of an artichoke heart complimenting the brightness of the cherries. This is a breakfast scene. It does like someone is present, enjoying a cherry and beginning to dig into the artichoke. I love the tower and layers created with the different cheeses adorned with the plate holding shavings of butter. The salt container is pristine and engraved. The morning light is hitting the food making them aglow and ready for the day. Still lives can be quite satisfying, a feast for the eyes if you will.

I have tried to ensure that there was gender parity in the artists that I have written about this past year in Color Field, which has pushed me to dig deeper into collections. It isn’t surprising that female artists, their biographies, hi-res images, and contextual information is more difficult to find (and often does not exist). Though I am writing about Peeters and her influence on other painters, there is not much known about her life. Fewer records, little knowledge of who she studied with, and who influenced her paintings. We don’t have travel records and only historians can surmise and make assumptions about her whereabouts. I have learned not much comes of making assumptions. It is a hard lesson to unlearn. In contrast, we often have travel records, clear access to archives of male pupils, and full records of the male pathway to artistic excellence and larger public success. How might we fill in the blanks when we have been told there are no gaps to fill? How might we express a feeling of loss when we didn’t know what we were missing? I didn’t know I needed that cherry pit and dangling artichoke leaf in my life. The known word canon comes from Middle English/ Latin with a few different meanings: a) an authoritative list of books accepted as Holy Scripture b) the authentic works of a writer c) a sanctioned or accepted group or body of related works. It isn’t necessarily about re-figuring the canon, but thinking about the canon in an entirely different way. What does an inclusive canon sound and look like? How might we re-imagine what is considered art history? And who is this history for?

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