Still Life with Trees and Mountains
Selden Connor Gile (1919)
What makes California living special?
This tabletop study was likely painted in Gile’s Oakland cabin on Chabot Road. The still life includes fresh fruit, a ginger jar filled with flowers, and an upright bowl, all set against a distant hill in the background and capturing the spirit of indoor/outdoor living that characterizes daily life in much of California. In this work, Gile showcases the tactile qualities of oil paint; working wet-into-wet, he sculpted his pigments to capture the material and emotional qualities of his subject.
\ Artist
Selden Connor Gile
American
Born:
1877
Died:
1947
Death place:
San Rafael, California
Selden Connor Gile was a leader of the San Francisco Bay Area group of artists known as the Society of Six. Critics found his work difficult to describe, with one Oakland writer offering, “Gile is as much an expressionist as an impressionist, and perhaps more of a colorist than either. A ‘joyist’—that’s it. A better term than any of the verbal tags that we apply to artists.”
\ About
Medium
Oil on canvas
Credit
Gift of Lorna Meyer Calas and Dennis Calas in honor of the tenth anniversary of the new de Young Museum