Still Life is a rare goldleaf collage that exemplifies Max Weber’s lifelong still life practice. From 1905 to 1908, Weber lived and worked in Paris, where leading figures of the avant-garde were developing radical new modes of visual expression. Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque began experimenting with collage in 1912 while they were developing Cubism, and Weber was one of the first American artists to work in the medium. In 1949, when Still Life was created, Weber was featured in a large solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art. The year prior, in 1948, A Look magazine survey of art experts positioned Weber as the second greatest living American artist, trailing only John Marin.