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Lot Essay
Gris painted this imposing, yet sensitive and affecting figure of Pierrot during a spell of intense and vigorous productivity prior to his final illness and tragically premature death at the age of 40, which ended a career of less than two decades duration. Some commentators have overlooked the merits of the artist's late works, but Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler called them "the crowning achievements of his oeuvre," (in L'Atelier de Juan Gris, exh. cat., Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris, 1957), and Douglas Cooper also drew attention to their mastery (op. cit., 1977, p. xxvii). Gertrude Stein called Gris "a perfect painter," and in her inimitable, idiosyncratic manner perhaps best summed up the artist's final achievement: "Four years partly illness much perfection and rejoining beauty and perfection and then at the end there came a definite creation of something. This is what is to be measured" (in "The Life of Juan Gris. The Life and Death of Juan Gris," Transition, Paris, no. 4, July 1927, pp 160-162).
Gris suffered from the lingering effects of pleurisy he contracted in May 1920. He had actually developed leukemia, but his doctors confused the symptoms with tuberculosis. Within a couple of years his condition appeared to have stabilized and his career seemed to be back on track. In 1923 Kahnweiler held a major exhibition of Gris's work at his Galerie Simon in Paris, which was well received. In the following year the artist added to his growing reputation by delivering a notable lecture, Des Possibilites de la Peinture, at the Sorbonne, which was shortly thereafter widely reprinted and translated into English, German and Spanish. In April 1925 Alfred Flechtheim exhibited a group of paintings done since 1920 in his Düsseldorf gallery. Later that year the important collectors Alphonse Kann and Dr. Gottlieb F. Reber (who acquired the present painting shortly after Gris painted it--see below) began to buy his work. Gris at last felt some degree of financial security, and, indeed, he turned down the offer of a contract from Paul Rosenberg, who was Picasso's dealer.
During the summer of 1925 Gris, his wife Josette, and their friends the playwright Armand Salacrou and his wife took a boat tour down the Seine to Le Havre. Back in his Paris studio the artist painted Pierrot à la guitare, the largest easel picture he ever made. He executed many fine still-lifes as well during this period, such as La guitare aux incrustations (Cooper, no. 529; fig. 1). Pierrot and most of the still-lifes share the motif of the Spanish guitar, which Gris featured at various intervals in his work, as did his fellow countryman Picasso. Apart from the connotation of nationality, and the popular appeal of the instrument, the presence of the guitar in this context suggests Walter Pater's aesthetic principle that "all art aspires to the condition of music," an ideal of synthesis and perfection in painting to which Gris had now dedicated his efforts. In Le bust, painted in April-June 1925 (Cooper, no. 523; private collection) and La table du musicien, January-April 1926 (Cooper, no. 559; fig. 2) the guitar is seen with a bust of Apollo or Orpheus, patrons of music in classical mythology.
The guitar embodies practice and aspirations of art-making; the figure of Pierrot represents the life and very soul of the artist himself. Christopher Green has noted that "There are innumerable indications of the currency of Commedia dell'Arte characters, especially Pierrot, after 1918 in France. The carnivals of 'mardi gras' in Paris and provincial France continued to be peopled by the Commedia dell'Arte masked characters. Gris wrote from Céret in 1922 of Josette shyly dressing up for carnival as Pierrot" (in Juan Gris, exh. cat., Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, 1992, p. 132). Gris's depiction of Pierrot also looks back on the long tradition in painting, ranging from Watteau to Cézanne (fig. 3). Pierrot symbolized purity and sensitivity. In 1922 the writer Paul-Sentenac characterized himself as Pierrot: "I personify the type of the dreamer. This poor Pierrot still believes in those things that the skepticism of fashion forbids. He believes in love. He believes in elevated, generous feelings I remain candid, opening always fresh eyes on life, wondering like a child. Pierrot is a grown-up child" (quoted in ibid., p. 133).
Pierrot à la guitare incorporates many of the compositional devices that Gris had developed since the end of the First World War. Pierrot, in whose costume Josette probably posed as model, is set in an interior, standing before a table placed in front of an open window, in this instance, an Italianate, Renaissance-style arch. The use of the window as an internal frame is a pictorial idea that Gris first extensively employed in 1921, during a recuperative sojourn in the Provençal town of Bandol, as he painted from a hotel room whose windows looked out over the Mediterranean. The threefold repetition of borders creates a telescopic effect that leads the eye through the fore- and middle-grounds toward the open window; at the same time this structure opens outward to engage the viewer. Gris has played off the creamy and neutral tones in Pierrot's costume against the stronger planes of color in the setting. Paloma Esteban Leal has stated, "As well as a more coherent composition and stronger and clearer fracturing, the paintings that he produced from March 1925 until the end of 1926 reveal a greater formal purity and, more importantly, a use of color that confirms Gris's indisputable status as a master colorist" (in Juan Gris: Drawings and Paintings 1910-1917, exh. cat., Museo Nacional Centro de Art Reina Sofía, 2005, p. 60).
In 1927, shortly before his death, Gris contributed a statement for an anthology of modern painting that Maurice Raynal was preparing. The artist wrote, "Today, at the age of forty, I believe I am approaching a new period of self expression, of pictorial expression, of picture-language; a well-thought-out and well-blended unity. In short, the synthetic period has followed the analytical one" (quoted in D.-H. Kahnweiler, op. cit., 1969, p. 204).
Dr. Gottlieb Friedrich Reber (1880-1959), who purchased this painting from Kahnweiler shortly soon Gris completed it, was described during a visit to America in 1930 as "without any question the most important collector of modern art in Europe today" (in "Dr. Reber sees America," Parnassus, 2 November 1930, p. 23). He was born in Germany, and in 1919 moved to Switzerland, where he eventually settled in Lausanne. He directed a wool-textile import firm, and with additional resources from his wife Erna's family fortune he began to collect Cézanne and other late 19th century masters in 1906. During the 1920s, influenced by Kahnweiler and the art historian Carl Einstein, he began to concentrate on acquiring cubist pictures, and went on to amass more than eighty works by Gris and seventy by Picasso; indeed the latter was upset to learn that Gris's representation in Reber's collection outnumbered his own. Reber collected ancient and medieval art as well. Einstein praised Reber's all-embracing approach to collecting, "Reber has recognized that the beginning of all art history is founded in the present, that is to say, that historical accents are decided by modern art" (in "La Collection Reber," L'Intransigeant, 1 April 1930, p. 5).
(fig. 1) Juan Gris, La guitare aux incrustations, January-July 1925. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid. BARCODE 20628185
(fig. 2) Juan Gris, La table du musicien, January-March 1926. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid. BARCODE 20628192
(fig. 3) Paul Cézanne, Mardi Gras, 1888. Pushkin Museum, Moscow. BARCODE 20628208
Gris suffered from the lingering effects of pleurisy he contracted in May 1920. He had actually developed leukemia, but his doctors confused the symptoms with tuberculosis. Within a couple of years his condition appeared to have stabilized and his career seemed to be back on track. In 1923 Kahnweiler held a major exhibition of Gris's work at his Galerie Simon in Paris, which was well received. In the following year the artist added to his growing reputation by delivering a notable lecture, Des Possibilites de la Peinture, at the Sorbonne, which was shortly thereafter widely reprinted and translated into English, German and Spanish. In April 1925 Alfred Flechtheim exhibited a group of paintings done since 1920 in his Düsseldorf gallery. Later that year the important collectors Alphonse Kann and Dr. Gottlieb F. Reber (who acquired the present painting shortly after Gris painted it--see below) began to buy his work. Gris at last felt some degree of financial security, and, indeed, he turned down the offer of a contract from Paul Rosenberg, who was Picasso's dealer.
During the summer of 1925 Gris, his wife Josette, and their friends the playwright Armand Salacrou and his wife took a boat tour down the Seine to Le Havre. Back in his Paris studio the artist painted Pierrot à la guitare, the largest easel picture he ever made. He executed many fine still-lifes as well during this period, such as La guitare aux incrustations (Cooper, no. 529; fig. 1). Pierrot and most of the still-lifes share the motif of the Spanish guitar, which Gris featured at various intervals in his work, as did his fellow countryman Picasso. Apart from the connotation of nationality, and the popular appeal of the instrument, the presence of the guitar in this context suggests Walter Pater's aesthetic principle that "all art aspires to the condition of music," an ideal of synthesis and perfection in painting to which Gris had now dedicated his efforts. In Le bust, painted in April-June 1925 (Cooper, no. 523; private collection) and La table du musicien, January-April 1926 (Cooper, no. 559; fig. 2) the guitar is seen with a bust of Apollo or Orpheus, patrons of music in classical mythology.
The guitar embodies practice and aspirations of art-making; the figure of Pierrot represents the life and very soul of the artist himself. Christopher Green has noted that "There are innumerable indications of the currency of Commedia dell'Arte characters, especially Pierrot, after 1918 in France. The carnivals of 'mardi gras' in Paris and provincial France continued to be peopled by the Commedia dell'Arte masked characters. Gris wrote from Céret in 1922 of Josette shyly dressing up for carnival as Pierrot" (in Juan Gris, exh. cat., Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, 1992, p. 132). Gris's depiction of Pierrot also looks back on the long tradition in painting, ranging from Watteau to Cézanne (fig. 3). Pierrot symbolized purity and sensitivity. In 1922 the writer Paul-Sentenac characterized himself as Pierrot: "I personify the type of the dreamer. This poor Pierrot still believes in those things that the skepticism of fashion forbids. He believes in love. He believes in elevated, generous feelings I remain candid, opening always fresh eyes on life, wondering like a child. Pierrot is a grown-up child" (quoted in ibid., p. 133).
Pierrot à la guitare incorporates many of the compositional devices that Gris had developed since the end of the First World War. Pierrot, in whose costume Josette probably posed as model, is set in an interior, standing before a table placed in front of an open window, in this instance, an Italianate, Renaissance-style arch. The use of the window as an internal frame is a pictorial idea that Gris first extensively employed in 1921, during a recuperative sojourn in the Provençal town of Bandol, as he painted from a hotel room whose windows looked out over the Mediterranean. The threefold repetition of borders creates a telescopic effect that leads the eye through the fore- and middle-grounds toward the open window; at the same time this structure opens outward to engage the viewer. Gris has played off the creamy and neutral tones in Pierrot's costume against the stronger planes of color in the setting. Paloma Esteban Leal has stated, "As well as a more coherent composition and stronger and clearer fracturing, the paintings that he produced from March 1925 until the end of 1926 reveal a greater formal purity and, more importantly, a use of color that confirms Gris's indisputable status as a master colorist" (in Juan Gris: Drawings and Paintings 1910-1917, exh. cat., Museo Nacional Centro de Art Reina Sofía, 2005, p. 60).
In 1927, shortly before his death, Gris contributed a statement for an anthology of modern painting that Maurice Raynal was preparing. The artist wrote, "Today, at the age of forty, I believe I am approaching a new period of self expression, of pictorial expression, of picture-language; a well-thought-out and well-blended unity. In short, the synthetic period has followed the analytical one" (quoted in D.-H. Kahnweiler, op. cit., 1969, p. 204).
Dr. Gottlieb Friedrich Reber (1880-1959), who purchased this painting from Kahnweiler shortly soon Gris completed it, was described during a visit to America in 1930 as "without any question the most important collector of modern art in Europe today" (in "Dr. Reber sees America," Parnassus, 2 November 1930, p. 23). He was born in Germany, and in 1919 moved to Switzerland, where he eventually settled in Lausanne. He directed a wool-textile import firm, and with additional resources from his wife Erna's family fortune he began to collect Cézanne and other late 19th century masters in 1906. During the 1920s, influenced by Kahnweiler and the art historian Carl Einstein, he began to concentrate on acquiring cubist pictures, and went on to amass more than eighty works by Gris and seventy by Picasso; indeed the latter was upset to learn that Gris's representation in Reber's collection outnumbered his own. Reber collected ancient and medieval art as well. Einstein praised Reber's all-embracing approach to collecting, "Reber has recognized that the beginning of all art history is founded in the present, that is to say, that historical accents are decided by modern art" (in "La Collection Reber," L'Intransigeant, 1 April 1930, p. 5).
(fig. 1) Juan Gris, La guitare aux incrustations, January-July 1925. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid. BARCODE 20628185
(fig. 2) Juan Gris, La table du musicien, January-March 1926. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid. BARCODE 20628192
(fig. 3) Paul Cézanne, Mardi Gras, 1888. Pushkin Museum, Moscow. BARCODE 20628208