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Lot Essay
An important aspect inherent to Juan Gris’s poetic expression is his predilection for still life compositions, subjects that are also emblematic in the context of Cubist iconography. Gris devoted more than most of his work to the representation of this subject, that is so deeply rooted in the Spanish pictorial tradition. He alternated his extensive inventory of usual domestic utensils with other objects of a somewhat different kind, such as books, glasses, bottles or playing cards, without abandoning his other great predilections, such as music and dance.
When Guitare et verre was executed in 1918, Gris had come through a major moment of development of his art. Once he had arrived at a Cubist idiom through his own tireless research, he was creating works that had marked new complexity. As he said to his friend, dealer and biographer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler in 1915: ‘I think I have really made progress recently and that my pictures begin to have a unity which they have lacked until now. They are no longer those inventories of objects which used to depress me so much’ (Juan Gris quoted in C. Green, Juan Gris, London/New Haven, 1992, p. 51). That unity is clearly shown in the present lot, which shows just a small number of objects in a manner that combines the pared-back observations of the artists finest Cubist works with the diagonal, vertical and horizontal planes of shading and striations that are an extension of the techniques he used in his oil paintings. Here, these fields of shade and striations have been rendered with an incredible variety of density, revealing the meticulous draughtsmanship at work, while also adding to the general dynamism and depth of the composition.
When Guitare et verre was executed in 1918, Gris had come through a major moment of development of his art. Once he had arrived at a Cubist idiom through his own tireless research, he was creating works that had marked new complexity. As he said to his friend, dealer and biographer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler in 1915: ‘I think I have really made progress recently and that my pictures begin to have a unity which they have lacked until now. They are no longer those inventories of objects which used to depress me so much’ (Juan Gris quoted in C. Green, Juan Gris, London/New Haven, 1992, p. 51). That unity is clearly shown in the present lot, which shows just a small number of objects in a manner that combines the pared-back observations of the artists finest Cubist works with the diagonal, vertical and horizontal planes of shading and striations that are an extension of the techniques he used in his oil paintings. Here, these fields of shade and striations have been rendered with an incredible variety of density, revealing the meticulous draughtsmanship at work, while also adding to the general dynamism and depth of the composition.