Still Life with Jug and Knife

Édouard Vuillard's "Still Life with Jug and Knife" (1888–89) is an oil on canvas from early in the artist's career, before he fully developed the intimate interior style for which he is best known. This still life shows a simple arrangement of a jug and a knife on a table, the objects rendered with a directness that still shows the influence of his academic training. The composition is straightforward, the objects placed with careful attention to their relationships of form and shadow. Vuillard was studying at the Académie Julian and the École des Beaux-Arts during this period, and this painting belongs to the formative years when he was mastering the basic disciplines of painting before moving on to the more decorative and symbolic work of his Nabi period. The palette is subdued, dominated by earth tones and muted colors. This early still life is important for understanding Vuillard's development: it shows the solid foundation of observation and craft upon which his later, more experimental work was built. The simple jug and knife, rendered with care and attention, are the first steps toward the complex, pattern-filled interiors of his maturity.

Vuillard's early still lifes demonstrate the academic foundation of his art, showing that the Nabi master of decorative pattern was first a careful observer of the physical world.

This early still life of a jug and knife shows the young Vuillard mastering the basic discipline of still life painting, the careful observation of form and shadow laying the groundwork for his later decorative achievements.