A new series of still lifes from Peter Paone, an artistic force of the Philadelphia region for more than 70 years, is on view from Saturday, October 11, through March 15, 2026, at the Michener Art Museum in Doylestown.
Curated by chief curator Laura Turner Igoe, “Peter Paone: Not So Still Life” presents nearly 40 recent paintings by the artist along with examples of Paone’s drawings that helped to generate his finished still lifes.
The works are inspired by Dutch vanitas paintings, in which the viewer is meant to contemplate the passage of time and inevitability of death. Paone combines seemingly-disparate objects and animals — like cakes, cats, asparagus, skeletons, birds, and fish — into intriguing arrangements.
“Historically, a still life painting has included subjects of domestic arrangements found within the artist’s reach. For me, a still life painting is much more than a composition of household goods. It’s a gathering from a journey of a life lived,” Paone said.
Providing a sense that someone has just left or arrived, the paintings in Peter Paone: Not So Still Life defy expectations of the still life genre with the surreal quality of his unexpected subjects. The artworks prompt more questions than answers in a narrative that viewers piece together from what Paone calls “objects draped in color performing together on a tabletop stage in a framed theater.”
“These tantalizing still lifes from Peter Paone delight the eye with bright colors, fantastical creatures, and imaginative cakes and table settings,” Igoe said. “They also encourage us to engage with the world around us, ask questions, and think about new possibilities.”
Paone’s work is drawn from his vivid imagination, an artistic approach where he famously does not work from models or draw directly from life. Even his extensive portfolio of sketches is not copied directly in a finished piece. Instead, they serve to inform his still life paintings, along with a number of intriguing objects collected throughout his 89 years of life and travels.
The final collection of never-before exhibited paintings in “Peter Paone: Not So Still Life” is full of contradiction and unresolved tension, reflecting the artist’s own history and worries about American society today. Some inanimate objects, like masks and pumpkins, repel with anthropomorphic — or even sinister — qualities. In other paintings, jarring compositions of cats and decadent cakes invite the viewer in with theatrical energy.
The symbolic storytelling of each still life continues in the ornate frame designs that Paone made or adapted from a library of over 200 antiques. His expertise in cutting, carving, and gilding frames comes from a job at age 13 with Papale Brothers’ frame shop in South Philadelphia.
Born and raised in South Philadelphia, Paone studied at the Barnes Foundation and received a degree in art education from the Philadelphia Museum School of Art (most recently University of the Arts). He has held teaching positions at the Pratt Institute and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he established and chaired the printmaking department.
Paone’s work is in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Delaware Art Museum, Woodmere Art Museum, and the Michener Art Museum, among other institutions.
The exhibition is accompanied by a 92-page full-color catalogue on sale at the Museum Shop that includes short writings by Paone and his mentee, the artist Anastasia Alexandrin, an essay by Igoe, and a foreword by Executive Director Anne Corso.
“Michener Art Museum is honored to work with Paone on this exhibition and to bring it to the Bucks County community and beyond,” Corso said. “What I hope visitors see is the magic and mystery in Paone’s carefully constructed paintings, but also in the world around us — for none of us truly lives a still life.”
Peter Paone: Not So Still Life, Michener Art Museum, 138 South Pine Street, Doylestown, Pennsylvania. On view October 11 through March 15, 2026. Museum hours Wednesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. $15. michenerartmuseum.org.
