Still Life with Game

William Hubacek
Still Life with Game
Oil on canvas, c. 1890
19 1/2 x 15 1/2 inches
Gift of the Carl S. Dentzel Estate
1984.025.005

Still Life with Game is his interpretation of a traditional still-life subject, the depiction of game birds. The work dates from about 1890; in 1895, William Hubacek exhibited a work entitled A Study in Fowls at the San Francisco Art Association spring exhibition. Hanging from a nail affixed to a cream-colored board are two trussed birds, one a carefully depicted California quail. A strikingly similar work by Brookes, California Quail (c. 1875), is in the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco. Marc Simpson noted: “The format, the handling of the birds’ plumage, and the delightful detail of the stray feather caught on the batten, betray Hubacek’s awareness of . . . Brookes.” An appreciation of Carlsen is seen in “the creamy white background and the birds’ softly brushed shadows.”