Les Sardines

Reading the work

On crumpled cloth and a newspaper lies a catch of Mediterranean fish, clams, sea urchins and a lobster – a still life in the grand tradition that speaks at once of abundance and the passing of time. Cottet revels in materiality: glistening scales, bristling urchins, pleated linen, all wrought from pure line. The diagonal stacking and the play of light and deep shadow reveal his sure compositional calculus.