Still Life (Nature morte) 

Yōzō Hamaguchi made this print, “Still Life,” using the mezzotint technique, which creates rich blacks and velvety grays. The image depicts a glass bottle, grapes, and peppers on what appears to be a woven surface. Hamaguchi lived most of his life in France, and his work shows the influence of European modernism, especially Surrealism. He strips the still life genre of its traditional symbolism, leaving a composition of starkly contrasting objects, seemingly without meaning. We might interpret this still life as a comment on the global movement of luxury goods. The peppers and grapes suggest the produce of a particular locale, while the carafe, a vessel used to serve wine or olive oil, suggests the institutions of dining. As art historians, we might research the artist's biography and the history of still life painting in Europe and Japan. The meaning of this work depends on its place in a network of cultural and economic exchange.