Still Life

Arthur Elias was known for lushly colored still lifes that are allegorical in nature, focused on the Vanitas theme of life and death. His paintings are intimate portraits of a modern life, often depicting scenes from his apartment or summer vacations spent in New England. Elias incorporated ordinary household objects and scenes into his work, using puppets and ceramics created by his high school art students, the violin he played as a child or antiques and antiquities that he collected. Brushes, palette and paints remind one of the unseen presence of the artist. Some paintings make his presence even more explicit, with veiled self-portraits like the life mask of him as a young man or the model of his hand. At other times, his face can be seen reflected in a mirror. His family is often present as well, through borrowed toys and cookware, a photograph, a portrait, the bedspread his daughter crocheted.