The Picture From Thibet
Emil Carlsen
EMIL CARLSEN, c.1920. OIL ON CANVAS.
Regarded as one of the greatest painters of his day, Carlsen struggled financially throughout his career. He worked mainly in still lives, beautifully and delicately rendered in a palette of soft hues and fine brushwork, and he held many prestigious teaching posts across America. Yet, still lives were hard to sell, having fallen out of vogue in favour of portraits, nudes and landscapes. It would take the Cubists to resurrect the medium some decades after he Carlsen reached prominence, and Carlsen found himself a master of an art-form considered dead. Despite that, he persisted, sure in the importance of the medium and his creations. “The simplest and most thorough way of acquiring all the knowledge of the craft of painting and drawing”, he said, “[is] the study of inanimate objects, still life painting, the very surest road to absolute mastery over all technical difficulties.”