The Piece

Still Life with Fruit and Pewter Tankard
Oil on canvas
Signed and dated Terry Daugherty, 1985
Framed

A signed and dated oil-on-canvas still life depicting a tabletop arrangement of fruit, a pewter tankard, a ceramic bowl, and a potted plant. The composition is rendered with controlled brushwork and careful attention to surface texture, emphasizing weight, balance, and spatial clarity.

The artist employs a restrained palette of warm earth tones and muted greens, using light to model form rather than dramatic contrast. Objects are spaced deliberately, allowing each element to retain its presence within the composition without crowding or narrative excess.

Product Details

→ Medium: Oil on canvas
→ Artist: Terry Daugherty
→ Signature: Lower right
→ Date: 1985
→ Subject: Still life
→ Framed in a period gilt wood frame

About the Artist

Terry Daugherty is a late 20th-century American painter working in a representational style. While no comprehensive national biography or auction record is currently available, the signed and dated nature of this work places the artist within the broader tradition of regional American realism active during the 1970s–1980s.

Artists working in this context often exhibited through local galleries, community art programs, and regional exhibitions rather than national commercial markets. Still-life painting remained a respected discipline within these circles, valued for its technical demands and observational rigor.

At present, no verified institutional affiliations or published exhibition records can be conclusively tied to this artist without object-level provenance beyond the signature and date.

Historical Context

By the 1980s, representational painting continued to thrive outside major metropolitan art centers, even as abstraction and conceptual art dominated national discourse. Many American painters maintained classical approaches to still life, focusing on composition, material study, and painterly control.

Works like this were typically created for local exhibition or direct sale, reflecting a collector base rooted in place rather than speculation. Their value lies in craftsmanship and visual presence rather than market notoriety.

Condition

Very good vintage condition.

The canvas remains evenly tensioned with no visible tears or punctures. The paint surface is stable with no evidence of flaking or restoration. The frame shows minor wear consistent with age.

Why It Belongs in Your Home

This painting offers quiet permanence.

Its scale and subject make it well suited for dining rooms, kitchens, studies, or intimate living spaces. The still-life composition integrates naturally into both traditional and contemporary interiors, providing visual interest without demanding attention.

It is a work meant to be lived with rather than explained.

From Viridian Eclection

Viridian Eclection curates objects with integrity, favoring accuracy over embellishment. This painting is presented based on what can be verified: a signed, dated oil painting by a regional American artist, valued for its material quality and compositional strength.