In this work, caricature softens the Cubist fracturing of the figure, while bands of light illuminate the muted colors of the harlequin's costume. Juan Gris, who began his artistic career as an illustrator for satirical magazines, used the harlequin as an alter ego in about forty works made between 1920 and 1927.

Inscription: Signed and dated (lower right): Juan Gris/ 12-17

Kunsthaus Zürich. "Juan Gris," April 2–26, 1933, no. 74 (as "Sitzender Harlekin," lent by Herr Dr. G. F. Reber, Lausanne).

New York. Perls Galleries. "Picasso Braque Gris: Cubism to 1918," January 4–February 6, 1954, no. 19 (as "L'Arlequin à la Guitare," lent by Hillman Periodicals, Inc.).

Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Paintings from Private Collections," May 31–September 5, 1955, no. 57 (lent by Mr. and Mrs. Alex L. Hillman).

Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Juan Gris," April 9–June 1, 1958, unnumbered cat. (p. 86; lent by Mr. and Mrs. Alex L. Hillman, New York).

Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "Juan Gris," June 24–July 24, 1958, unnumbered cat.

San Francisco Museum of Art. "Juan Gris," August 11–September 14, 1958, unnumbered cat.

Los Angeles County Museum. "Juan Gris," September 29–October 26, 1958, unnumbered cat.

New Haven. Yale University Art Gallery. "Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture Collected by Yale Alumni," May 19–June 26, 1960, no. 95 (lent by Richard A. Hillman).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paintings from Private Collections: Summer Loan Exhibition," July 12–September 3, 1963, no. 92 (as "Harlequin with Guitar," lent by Richard A. Hillman).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Summer Loan Exhibition: Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture from Private Collections," July 8–September 6, 1966, no. 69 (as "Harlequin with Guitar," lent by the Alex Hillman Corporation).

Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "The Cubist Epoch," December 15, 1970–February 21, 1971, no. 126 (as "Harlequin with Guitar," lent by The Alex Hillman Family Foundation, New York).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Cubist Epoch," April 9–June 7,1971, no. 126.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Summer Loan: Paintings from New York Collections. Collection of Mrs. Alex Hillman and The Alex Hillman Family Foundation," July 1–September 7, 1971, brochure no. 3 (as "Harlequin with Guitar," lent by The Alex Hillman Family Foundation).

Bronx Museum of the Arts. "Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture from the Alex Hillman Family Foundation," April 10–May 2, 1972, no catalogue.

Laramie. University of Wyoming Art Museum. "The Hillman Collection," November 3–December 12, 1972.

Jacksonville, Fla.. Jacksonville Art Museum. "The Alex Hillman Collection," October 18–December 2, 1973, no. 16.

Corpus Christi. Art Museum of South Texas. "The Alex Hillman Collection," December 13, 1973–January 27, 1974, no. 16.

Paris. Orangerie des Tuileries. "Juan Gris," March 14–July 1, 1974, no. 69 (lent by The Alex Hillman Family Foundation, New York).

Kunsthalle Baden Baden. "Juan Gris," July 20–September 29, 1974, no. 54 (lent by The Alex Hillman Family Foundation, New York).

Roslyn Harbor, N. Y.. Nassau County Museum of Art. "Modern Masters: Paintings and Drawings from the Alex Hillman Family Foundation," December 19, 1977–February 12, 1978, no. 9.

Austin and other cities. Circulated by the American Federation of Arts. "Selections from the Collection of the Alex Hillman Family Foundation," January 21, 1979–November 29, 1982; September 16, 1984–August 11, 1985.

London. Tate Gallery. "The Essential Cubism: Braque, Picasso & their friends, 1907–1920," April 27–July 10, 1983, no. 75 (lent by the Alex Hillman Family Foundation, New York).

National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. "Juan Gris," October 16–December 31, 1983, no. 52 (lent by the Alex Hillman Family Foundation).

Berkeley. University Art Museum, University of California. "Juan Gris," February 1–April 8, 1984, no. 52.

New York. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. "Juan Gris," May 18–July 15, 1984, no. 52.

Madrid. Salas Pablo Ruiz Picasso. "Juan Gris (1887–1927)," September 20–November 24, 1985, no. 61 (as "Arlequin con guitarra," lent by The Alex Hillman Family Foundation, New York).

Brooklyn Museum. "Alex Hillman Family Foundation Collection: French Art of the 19th and 20th Centuries," February 15, 1986–January 5, 1987, no catalogue.

Brooklyn Museum. "Modern Masters: French Art from The Alex Hillman Family Foundation Collection," June 9–August 15, 1988, unnum. brochure.

Madrid. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. "Juan Gris: Paintings and Drawings 1910–1927," June 22–September 19, 2005, no. 78 (lent by The Alex Hillman Family Foundation. Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art).

Centre Pompidou Metz. "1917," May 26–September 24, 2012, unnumbered cat. (p. 150; as "Arlequin à la guitare").

Bulletin de "L'Effort Moderne", no. 32 (February 1927), ill. between pp. 8 and 9.

"Quelques notes de Juan Gris sur ses récherchés." Cahiers d'art 2, nos. 4–5 (1927), ill. p. 171.

Carl Einstein. "Juan Gris: Texte inédit." Documents 2, no. 5 (1930), ill. p. 274.

Carl Einstein. Die Kunst des 20.Jahrhunderts. Berlin, 1931, p. 377.

Daniel Henry Kahnweiler. Juan Gris: His Life and Work. New York, 1947, p. 170, pl. 40.

James Thrall Soby. Juan Gris. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art, New York. New York, 1958, pp. 81, 86–87, 93, 117, ill. (color).

H. L. F. "Today's Collectors. Alex L. Hillman: Courbet to Dubuffet." Art News 58 (October 1959), p. 34, fig. 6.

Alfred Frankfurter. "Why Are Yalemen the Best Collectors?" Art News 59 (Summer 1960), p. 5, ill. and front cover (color).

Douglas Cooper. "The Temperament of Juan Gris." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 29 (April 1971), ill. p. 360.

Douglas Cooper. The Cubist Epoch. Exh. cat., Los Angeles County Museum of Art. London, 1971, pp. 228, 289, no. 126, colorpl. 280.

Jean Leymarie in Juan Gris. Exh. cat., Orangerie des Tuileries. Paris, 1974, p. 15.

Michèle Richet and Claudie Judrin in Juan Gris. Exh. cat., Orangerie des Tuileries. Paris, 1974, p. 97, no. 69, ill.

Douglas Cooper with Margaret Potter. Juan Gris: Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint. Paris, 1977, vol. 1, pp. XIX, 352–53, no. 241, ill. and colorpl. VI.

David L. Shirey. "Modern Mastery on View in Nassau." New York Times (December 18, 1977), pp. 1, 21.

Juan Manuel Bonet and Carlos Führer d' Ors. Juan Gris. Madrid, 1983, p. 89, colorpl. 29.

Douglas Cooper and Gary Tinterow. The Essential Cubism: Braque, Picasso & their friends, 1907–1920. Exh. cat., Tate Gallery. London, 1983, pp. 172–73, 176, no. 75, ill. (color).

Mark Rosenthal. Juan Gris. Exh. cat., University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley. New York, 1983, pp. 94, 179, no. 52, ill. p. 97 (color).

Mark Rosenthal in Juan Gris (1887–1927). Ed. Gary Tinterow. Exh. cat., Salas Pablo Ruiz Picasso. Madrid, 1985, pp. 57, 228–29, no. 61, ill. (color).

Mark Roskill. The Interpretation of Cubism. London, 1985, p. 114.

Maria Grazia Messina and Jolanda Nigro Covre. Il cubismo dei cubisti: Ortodossi/ eretici a Parigi intorno al 1912. Rome, 1986, pp. 357–58, 423, fig. 174.

Kenneth E. Silver. Esprit de Corps: The Art of the Parisian Avant Garde and the First World War, 1914–1925. Princeton, 1989, pp. xvi, 158–59, fig. 118.

Dorothy Kosinski. "G. F. Reber: Collector of Cubism." Burlington Magazine 133 (August 1991), pp. 522, 529, fig. 41 (installation photo).

Emily Braun. Manet to Matisse: The Hillman Family Collection. New York, 1994, pp. 22, 80–83, no. 20, ill. (color).

Sarah Faunce in Emily Braun. Manet to Matisse: The Hillman Family Collection. New York, 1994, p. 16.

Christian Derouet, ed. Juan Gris: Correspondances avec Léonce Rosenberg, 1915–1927. Paris, 1999, p. 72, receipt no. 116, p. 126, no. 5557.

Peter Kropmanns and Uwe Fleckner. "Von Kontinentaler Bedeuteung: Gottlieb Friedrich Reber und Seine Sammlungen." Die Moderne und Ihre Sammler: Französische Kunst in Deutschem Privatbesitz vom Kaiserreich zur Weimarer Republik. Eds. Andrea Pophanken and Felix Billeter. Berlin, 2001, p. 395, no. 20, fig. 86 (installation photo).

Paloma Esteban Leal in Juan Gris: Paintings and Drawings 1910–1927. Ed. Paloma Esteban Leal. Exh. cat., Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. Madrid, 2005, vol. 1, pp. 49, 59, 64 n. 72, colorpl. 78; vol. 2, pp. 97–98, no. 78, ill.

Claude Frontisi in Juan Gris: Paintings and Drawings 1910–1927. Ed. Paloma Esteban Leal. Exh. cat., Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. Madrid, 2005, p. 94.

María Dolores Jiménez Blanco, ed. Juan Gris: Correspondencia y escritos. Barcelona, 2008, p. 191 n. 310.

García Ponce de Léon. Juan Gris: La pasión por el Cubismo. Madrid, 2008, pp. 330–31, ill. (color).