When I went to bed yesterday, this thread was still on my mind and I remembered something I learned at school: still-life is not the correct expression here, becaue still-life is defined as work of art depicting inanimate subject matter.
I looked "still-life" up at wikipedia this morning and found something interesting in the German version: Still-lifes often contain a
memento mori, respectively a thought of
Vanitas. This means they contain a reminder of the transience of life (and of all things). There is even a specific kind of still-lifes which is called "Vanitas-Still-lifes". In those the principle of still-life, to depict inamimate things, is carried to extremes by adding clear symbols of transience, e.g. skulls.
Here is an example for a Vanitas still-life:
(by Pieter Claest, 1630)But "normal" still-lifes are also full of symbolic meanings: empty glasses, toppled down containers, broken containers, which all are symbols for transience. Insekts, bugs stand for rotting and decay. Dead animals, especially kill of a hunt. Cut flowers in a vase, who shrivel within a few days. And on and on; it was a very long list I found on wikipedia.
Although the expresion still-life may not be correct for many of the pics of BBM that come to my mind, it's something close and it describes those pics very well. The backdrop is still-life like, but there are people in it.
This pic from Lee is a good example for it:
Here's an example of what I mean:
Notice how the axe is coming right out of Jack's head,
There is a symbolic axe (coming out of Jack's head!), the still somewhat bloody flesh of the elk, a big rotten snag between our boys and another where Ennis is leaning at.
Lee, you came on something very interesting here. I'll be looking for more still-life like pics and still-life typical symbols in them.
BTW: the English wikipedia's article about still-lifes contains a paragraph about Vanitas, too, but sadly no list of symbols. I quote it here, because it describes it better than I did.
Excursus Vantitas Still-lifes:
"
Especially popular in this period were vanitas paintings, in which sumptuous arrangements of fruit and flowers, or lavish banquet tables with fine silver and crystal, were accompanied by symbolic reminders of life's impermanence. A skull, an hourglass or pocket watch, a candle burning down or a book with pages turning, would serve as a moralizing message on the ephemerality of sensory pleasures. Often some of the luscious fruits and flowers themselves would be shown starting to spoil or fade."