Painted in France, where Bruce lived from 1904 to 1936, this still life depicts cut fruit, a glass with a straw, block-like shapes, and an architectural column with clean lines, geometric clarity, and cool tonalities. The painting exudes a rational stillness, especially when compared to Cubist still lifes by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. In fact, Objects on a Table marks a deliberate and profound departure from Cubism, which gained negative associations during World War I because its fragmentation of form appeared to visualize the conflict’s deadly destruction.
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Open Access
As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.
API
Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Artwork Details
Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item
Title:Objects on a Table
Artist:Patrick Henry Bruce (American, Long Island, Virginia 1881–1936 New York, New York)
Date:ca. 1920–21
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:35 × 45 3/4 in. (88.9 × 116.2 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:George A. Hearn Fund, 1961
Accession Number:61.67
the artist (to Roché); Henri-Pierre Roché, Paris (in 1933); [Rose Fried Gallery, New York]; [Graham Gallery, New York, by 1960–61; sold, partially by exchange, to MMA]
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Three Centuries of American Painting," April 9–October 17, 1965, unnum. checklist (as "Still Life").
Washington, D. C. National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution. "Roots of Abstract Art in America, 1910–1930," December 2, 1965–January 9, 1966, no. 12 (as "Still Life," ca. 1928).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Paintings, Drawings and Watercolors from the Museum's Collections," October 1–December 7, 1969, no catalogue.
Comune di Milano. December 1970–June 1971.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Tribute to a Curator: Robert Beverly Hale," November 16, 1978–March 4, 1979, extended to March 18, 1979, unnum. checklist.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "Patrick Henry Bruce: American Modernist," May 31–July 29, 1979, no. 17 (as "Peinture/ Nature morte").
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Patrick Henry Bruce: American Modernist," August 22–October 21, 1979, no. 17.
Richmond. Virginia Museum. "Patrick Henry Bruce: American Modernist," November 26, 1979–January 6, 1980, no. 17.
New York. Washburn Gallery. "Patrick Henry Bruce: An American in Paris," May 23–June 30, 1989, unnum. brochure (front cover; as "Still Life," 1920–21).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Still Life: 1915–1950," February 1, 1995–January 28, 1996, no catalogue.
John I. H. Baur. "Rediscovery." Art in America 48, no. 3 (1960), p. 87, ill., calls it "Still Life" and dates it about 1928; locates it in the Graham Gallery, New York.
Henry Geldzahler. American Painting in the Twentieth Century. New York, 1965, pp. 144, 146, ill., calls it "Still Life".
William C. Agee and Barbara Rose. Patrick Henry Bruce: American Modernist. A Catalogue Raisonné. New York, 1979, pp. 196–97, no. D7, ill. and colorpl. 17, call it "Peinture/ Nature Morte (presently entitled 'Still Life')".
William C. Agee in William C. Agee and Barbara Rose. Patrick Henry Bruce: American Modernist. A Catalogue Raisonné. New York, 1979, pp. 28, 30–31.
Barbara Rose in William C. Agee and Barbara Rose. Patrick Henry Bruce: American Modernist. A Catalogue Raisonné. New York, 1979, pp. 73, 81.
Scarlett and Philippe Reliquet. Henri-Pierre Roché: L'Enchanteur collectionneur. Paris, 1999, pp. 189–90, 280.
Richard Meyer. "Changing Partners: Richard Meyer on 'Reimagining Modernism' at the Met." Artforum 54 (November 2015), ill. p. 144 (color, installation photo).
Georgia O'Keeffe (American, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin 1887–1986 Santa Fe, New Mexico)
1927
Resources for Research
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Met's engagement with art from 1890 to today includes the acquisition and exhibition of works in a range of media, spanning movements in modernism to contemporary practices from across the globe.
