Still Life with Benedictine Bottle and Fruit 1917

Here's a delicious still life by Samuel Peploe, probably painted with oils on canvas. Look at the thick strokes of juicy green laying the backdrop for the objects on display: a bottle, a bowl of fruit, and a petite tea cup. I can imagine Peploe standing before the canvas, squinting, trying to capture that light, that feeling, that very particular kind of seeing. He probably worked and reworked sections, wiping away layers and starting anew, until the painting felt right. The painting feels both solid and fleeting. There’s a tension between the visible brushstrokes and the attempt to evoke a sense of realism. I love the little tea cup, how it catches the light. It makes me want to grab a brush and play with those colors myself. I imagine that these Scottish colourists were in conversation with the French Impressionists. I can see Peploe looking to Cezanne, trying to understand how to translate the three-dimensional world into a two-dimensional plane. Artists learn from each other. They borrow, steal, and transform. It is a great continuum, a constant exchange of ideas that keeps us all going.