ART APPRECIATION LESSON 3: American Artist and History
You will see how an artist uses primary colors and integrate the idea into your own work of art in this art appreciation lesson.
John Frederick Peto, Still Life with Cake, Lemon, Strawberries, and Glass, 1890. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.
This painting is a perfect example of how striking the primary colors are when placed side by side. John Frederick Peto emphasized the bright yellow of the cake and lemons by setting them against an intense blue wall. He painted a very light yellow for the lemon rind. The peel is yellow too, but the color is much deeper. Can you find other areas in the painting where a single color is lighter in one area and deeper in another area? Look at the blue wall and red fruit. My eyes tell me that Peto painted raspberries, though the title of the painting says strawberries. Any small object can be used for a still life. Artists like still life paintings because the objects stay in one place long enough for a drawing or painting to be finished. For his painting, Peto chose objects of different colors and sizes. He chose objects of different shapes too! Have you ever thought of cutting an object such as fruit or cake to make different shapes for your painting?
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