McFee’s tabletop still lifes remained consistent throughout his career. They always contain the same basic components: a wood table that is tilted toward the viewer, and often draped with some fabric, with an array of objects atop it. An assortment of fruit, arranged around and on plates or in other containers, was usually placed near a potted plant or vase of flowers, as in Still Life with Carafe. After the 1910s McFee’s still lifes often featured a glass object, no doubt because the reflective and transparent qualities of the glass enabled him to explore his modernist fascination with forms and planes. The faceted, cut-glass decanter in the museum’s painting seems to have been especially appealing to the artist, for he used it in several other still lifes of the 1930s. The arrangement in the museum’s painting is slightly more elaborate than in most of his other compositions, since, following an old still-life tradition, McFee presented both whole and cut fruit. He also included in the background of this painting a second table with books placed on it. Although McFee’s still-life compositions of his mature years appear more traditional than his early abstractions, they continue to demonstrate the artist’s fundamental loyalty to Paul Cézanne (1839-1906). In the use of a simple table, the type of still-life arrangement, and an emphasis on cubic form, McFee followed Cézanne’s example, but he gave a greater sense of depth to the overall scene. His mature still lifes also reveal his personal exploration of painting techniques. As did Dasburg, McFee presented his objects not in flat, opaque planes but in layers of delicately brushed pigments that give a soft, almost shimmering quality to his surfaces. The objects appear both solid and delicate. In Still Life with Carafe the overall gray tonality is infused with a wealth of other colors-deep green, alizarin, warm brown, and orange-that are repeated throughout. The overall appearance of a McFee painting is one of great sensuality.

The early twentieth century witnessed the transformation of the United States into a modern industrialized society and an international political power. By 1920 more than half of the country’s population lived in urban areas. Seeming to guarantee employment, the cities lured many farmers and African Americans from rural areas. In addition, between 1900 and 1920, 14.5 million immigrants from Europe, Russia, Mexico, and Asia settled here, primarily in urban centers. A new energy was channeled to such cities as New York and Chicago, as massive skyscrapers were erected to furnish much-needed office space and living quarters. Even West Coast cities were affected—the population of Los Angeles tripled between 1900 and 1910; its unplanned urban sprawl and dizzying speed were captured in the zany movies of the Keystone Cops, filmed on the streets of the city.

Art reflected these changing social and economic dynamics. Impressionism and Post-Impressionism were still popular. Yet other, more progressive ideas now challenged artists. A strong new commitment to realism emerged in literature and the fine arts.

In Philadelphia and New York, a group of artists centered around Robert Henri captured the vitality of urban American life. These realists depicted the hustle and bustle of city streets, the common pleasures of restaurants and various forms of entertainment. Critics dubbed these realists the “Ash Can School” because of their treatment of unidealized subject matter previously considered unattractive. These artists focused on the inhabitants of cities rather than the cities themselves. Their interest in people also led them to create a significant number of single-figure paintings, conveying the human side of the new America . During the 1910s and 1920s the realist celebration of America spread throughout the country, as artists recorded the neighborhoods and people that made their own cities distinct.