Czóbel Béla, Csendélat 

Béla Czóbel rendered this still life, Csendélet, with pastel and charcoal sometime in the first half of the 20th century. It is hard to miss the modernist influence of artists like Cezanne. But it's Czóbel's biography that makes this piece so interesting. Born in Hungary and active in Paris, Czóbel was a member of "Les Fauves," a group of early modernist artists who exhibited together briefly in the early 1900s. The Fauves, meaning "wild beasts," were so named for their jarring use of color. Looking at this quiet still life, it is hard to imagine that the artist was once considered so avant-garde. But this perhaps only demonstrates the power of the institution of art to tame even the wildest of beasts! It's important to look at an artist's broader social context, using exhibition histories and artists' biographies, to fully understand an artwork’s public role.