Max Weber American, 1881-1961

Max Weber's large-scale painting, Egyptian Pot and Fruit (1923) serves as a testament to the artist's enduring dedication to still life. An Egyptian black-topped redware jar, a type of pottery frequently discovered in the Nubian region along the Nile River, is positioned prominently at the top center of the composition. This Egyptian pot becomes a recurrent element in Weber's still lifes, notably appearing in The Blue Labeled Bottle (1917-18), among others. Through his still life practice, Weber placed profound emphasis on quotidian objects, both contemporary and historical, asserting, "Through things we ever establish new relationships between ourselves and the principles that underlie things. The simplest object may have embodied in it the finest degree of excellence." (Max Weber, Essays on Art, New York: William Edwin Rudge, 1916, p. 35)