Artwork Information

Melvin Day's still life of domestic objects employs the fractured aesthetic of Cubism, which Day discovered through books and training with John Weeks. Day's use of black to create dramatic contrast, and his rampant use of pastiche, set his work apart from the more ordered and carefully structured still lifes of John Weeks. Unlike Weeks, who studied at art schools in Edinburgh and Paris, Day discovered the world of modern art through print media, and his early work, such as 'Still Life with Bottle, Fruit and Glass', reveals the energy and excitement as he rejected traditional modes of representation to experiment with techniques from modern art.