Robert Seldon Duncanson

American, 1821 - 1872

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African American artist (1821-1872)

Explore Selected Works

Robert Seldon Duncanson, Fruit Still Life, c. 1849, oil on canvas, Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase through a gift from the Reserve for Purchase of Works of Art), 2014.136.106

Fruit Still Life

Robert Seldon Duncanson · c. 1849 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2014.136.106

Several pieces of fruit, a bunch of green grapes, a stem of raisins, and several types of nuts in their shells are piled on a putty-brown tabletop or ledge with rounded corners against a dark background in this horizontal still life painting. The food is brightly lit from the front, and we look slightly down onto the table. There are two round red apples and two pieces of small yellow fruit, perhaps quinces, flanking a golden yellow pear at the back center. The bunch of grapes drapes over the fruit to our right and the raisins lie between the apples. Thirteen walnuts, peanuts, almonds, hazelnuts, and perhaps a brazil nut are scattered in a loose band in front of the fruit. The surface on which the still life sits becomes swallowed in shadow behind the fruit, and blends into the dark brown background. The artist signed and dated the work in dark paint in the lower right corner, almost lost in shadow under the ledge: “R.S. Duncanson 1848.”
Robert Seldon Duncanson, Still Life with Fruit and Nuts, 1848, oil on board, Gift of Ann and Mark Kington/The Kington Foundation and the Avalon Fund, 2011.98.1

Still Life with Fruit and Nuts

Robert Seldon Duncanson · 1848 · oil on board ·  Accession ID  2011.98.1