Juan Gris

Léonce Rosenberg, Paris
Galerie Simon, Paris (acquired in the early 1930s)
Alphonse Kann, St. Germain-en-Laye (until at least 1937)
André Lefevre, Paris (sale: Palais Gallièra, Paris, Collection André Lefevre, 1st December 1964, lot 48)
Private Collection, France (purchased at the above sale)
Acquired from the above by the present owner circa 1980

(probably) Paris, Petit Palais, Les Maîtres de l'art indépendant, 1937, no. 22 (titled Nature morte)
Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Collection André Lefevre, 1964, no. 97 (tltled Nature morte)

Douglas Cooper, Juan Gris. Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, Paris, 1977, vol. I, no. 232, illustrated p. 341

Executed on cradled panel, which is stable. There are nailhead sized spots of retouching along the framing edges, a 2cm. line of retouching towards the top of the left edge and a few small spots and lines of retouching in the grey pigment at lower left corner, all visible under ultra-violet light. This work is in good condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate although richer and more vibrant in the original.
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Painted in 1917, La Grappe de raisin belongs to the height of Gris' 'architectural' period. During this time his creative energy was focused primarily on the subject of still-life, and resulted in compositions that he built out of geometric shapes and overlapping colour planes. While his fellow Cubist artists like Picasso and Braque were at this time preoccupied with composition of a purely formal nature, Gris maintained a high degree of lyricism, imbuing his still-lifes with a poetic character. The present work demonstrates his playful juxtaposition of the sharp, crisply defined objects on the left with the organic forms of the fruit and plant on the right, as well as his interest in a counterplay between objects and their shadows. The observation of a variety of surface textures in the oil paintings owes much to the papiers collés. By 1915 he had completely abandoned the medium of papier collé, and replaced real materials and objects with their trompe-l'oeil depictions, such as the wooden table in the present composition, resulting in a higher degree of pictorial unity.

 

Discussing the compositional system of Gris' works from this period, Paloma Esteban Leal commented: 'Derived from the technique of collage it was based, in his mature period, on a series of triangular, vertical and horizontal planes. Without quite being transparent, these overlap, thus conferring order on the compositional structure of the painting both by their different textures and tonalities and by the specific location of these planes in space. Another of Gris's contributions was his portrayal of volume by means of isometric perspectives and objects reinforced by being outlined against negative images of themselves. It was a technique which created heightened dramatic effects and gave his compositions a greater intensity than those of Picasso and Braque. Highly personal, too, was Gris' use of contrasting light and shade to create continuity between the foreground motifs and the background of the painting' (P. Esteban Leal, 'A Contained Passion', in Juan Gris. Paintings and Drawings 1910-1927 (exhibition catalogue), Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, 2005, p. 26).

Please note that this work is being offered for sale in co-operation with the heirs of Alphonse Kann.