A Kettle and teapot on a table. Wilting flowers on a window ledge. Coffee cups and doughnuts, A dead bird. An open book. Still life has excited and preoccupied artists for centuries, but what is it about objects, grouped together or alone, that has made it such an enduring subject in British art? From a magnificient late 17th century bouquet by the 'God of Flowers' Simon Verelst to Lee Miller's unsettling meal-for-two in the 1920s; from Lucian Freud's postwar solitary tangerine to Maggi Hambling's Cuddling Skulls in 1995; from Mona Hatoum's glass blown grenades in 2012 to Glenn Brown's spirited turnip in 2024, this richly illustrated book brings together artists working in Britain who have each explored - and drawn our attention to - The Shape of Things.