Still Life
1941
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
24 1/4 x 30 in. (61.6 x 76.2 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Department
Modern and Contemporary Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of New York City W. P. A., 1943
Accession Number
43.47.7
Tags
Art Historical Context
Ben Benn's *Still Life* (1941), an oil on canvas measuring 24 1/4 x 30 inches, captures the timeless appeal of the genre with its arrangement of fruit and jugs. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Department of Modern and Contemporary Art this painting exemplifies the intimate, everyday subjects that artists often explored to convey abundance and harmony amid uncertainty. Painted during World War II, the work was produced under the auspices of the New York City Progress Administration (W.P.), a New Deal program that employed thousands of artists during the Great Depression. Gifted to t...