Anton BRUEHL
Australia 1900 – United States of America 1982
United States from 1919

not titled [Still life of vase of flowers, Canaan, Connecticut] 1924
platinum photograph
image 20.2 (h) x 15.5 (w) cm
Gift of American Friends of the National Gallery of Australia, Inc., New York, NY, USA, made possible with the generous support of Anton Bruehl Jr, 2006.
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
NGA 2006.104

This still life was made while Bruehl was studying with the great Pictorial photographer and teacher, Clarence H White. White’s school was based in New York City but he also taught summer and winter residential workshops in the rural setting of Canaan in Connecticut. The still life is strongly Pictorial both in feel and execution: simple, domestic subject matter rendered in soft focus, lit by a diffused side light from the window, and in low contrast with a fine tonal range.

Although almost thirty years apart in age, White and Bruehl were friends as well as teacher and pupil. Bruehl would accompany White on weekends away to his Connecticut cottage, where the two men talked about art for hours.