Still Life, Roses and Book 1920

Samuel Peploe made this still life, Roses and Book, with oil on canvas, though it feels like a watercolor in its delicacy. Look at how Peploe builds up his forms with these delicious blocky brushstrokes. The blues really sing. I am really drawn to the way Peploe uses the paint. It is so physical. In the background, the way he drags the brush in these diagonal strokes. It's almost sculptural. Look at the white vase in the background – it’s got these lovely touches of blue, giving it depth and volume. Then there’s the impasto of the rose on the right, where the paint sits up off the canvas so heavy and juicy! I like how that’s in tension with the flatness of the books in the foreground. You can see the echoes of Cézanne in this piece. But it also looks forward to someone like, I don’t know, maybe Morandi? That simple, quiet, contemplative arrangement. But of course, Peploe is very much his own man!