EXPERT TIP

American painter Joseph Decker was a master of still life, such as 1885’s oil-on-canvas Green Plums. The firmness of the fruit was suggested by very hard, crisp edges drawn out in pencil on the fine linen canvas first, while the illusion of moist, reflective skin is created by countless small flat strokes of various greens painted wet-in-wet, accented briskly with white on top.