This work displays a reduced palette of red, blue, and brown and an austere composition of three bowls, a pitcher, and a vase. It shows Derain's increasing sensitivity to traditional iconography and genre painting after the brightly colored, gestural paintings of his Fauve years (1905–7).
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[Galerie Kahnweiler, Paris, 1911–14; purchased from the artist, stock no. 2006; sequestered Kahnweiler stock, Paris, 1914–21; second Kahnweiler sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, November 17–18, 1921, no. 70, as "La Table," for Fr 6,800, to Lefebure); M. Lefebure [possibly Lefèvre or Lefebvre?] (from 1921); C. Girard, Paris (sold in June 1952, for $4,053.27, to P. Matisse); [Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York, 1952–54; stock no. SP5, sold on May 11, 1954 to MMA]
Paris. Galerie Charpentier. "Autour de 1900," 1950, no. 68 (as "La table de cuisine," 1910) [probably this picture; see Ref. Sterling and Salinger 1967].
Paris. Galerie Charpentier. "Natures mortes françaises du XVIIe siècle à nos jours," December 18, 1951–February 11, 1952, no. 43 (as "La table").
New York. Pierre Matisse Gallery. "Still Life and the School of Paris," December 1952, no. 6 (as "The Blue Pitcher").
Kassel. Museum Fridericianum. "Documenta III: Internationale Ausstellung," June 27–October 5, 1964, no. 8 (as "The Table").
Edinburgh. Royal Scottish Academy. "Derain," August 19–September 17, 1967, no. 46.
London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Derain," September 30–November 5, 1967, no. 46.
Rome. Villa Medici. "Derain," November 13, 1976–January 23, 1977, no. 15.
Paris. Grand Palais. "André Derain," February 15–April 11, 1977, no. 18.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Selection One: Twentieth-Century Art," February 1–April 30, 1985, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Selection Three: Twentieth-Century Art," October 22, 1985–January 26, 1986, no catalogue.
Canberra. Australian National Gallery. "20th Century Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," March 1–April 27, 1986, unnumbered cat. (p. 9).
Brisbane. Queensland Art Gallery. "20th Century Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," May 7–July 1, 1986, unnumbered cat.
Yokohama Museum of Art. "Treasures from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: French Art from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century," March 25–June 4, 1989, no. 159.
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. "André Derain: Le peintre du 'trouble moderne'," November 18, 1994–March 19, 1995, no. 89.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Painters in Paris: 1895–1950," March 8–December 31, 2000, extended to January 14, 2001, unnumbered cat. (p. 32).
Madrid. Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. "Forma: El Ideal Clásico en el Arte Moderno," October 9, 2001–January 13, 2002, no. 36.
Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art. "Picasso and the School of Paris: Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," September 14–November 24, 2002, no. 17.
Tokyo. Bunkamura Museum of Art. "Picasso and the School of Paris: Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," December 7, 2002–March 9, 2003, no. 17.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection," May 18, 2004–June 26, 2005, no catalogue (checklist no. 9) [withdrawn in August 2004 for Exh. Essen 2004–5].
Essen. Museum Folkwang. "Cézanne and the Dawn of Modern Art," September 18, 2004–January 16, 2005, unnumbered cat. (p. 91).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Selections from The Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection, Part 3," February 15–June 26, 2005, no catalogue.
André Salmon. André Derain. Paris, 1929, ill. p. 13, as "La Table," 1911.
Christian Zervos. Histoire de l'art contemporain. Paris, 1938, ill. p. 176, as "Nature morte".
Howard Devree. "By Contemporaries." New York Times (December 14, 1952), p. X9.
Blanca Stabile. "André Derain." Ver y estimar no. 2 (December 1954), ill. p. 3.
Charles Sterling and Margaretta M. Salinger. French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 3, XIX–XX Centuries. New York, 1967, p. 224, ill., date it 1911 based on comparisons to still lifes of 1910 (Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; K277) and 1912 (private collection; K316).
John Russell. "Gallery View: Pondering the Path of Derain." New York Times (July 20, 1980), p. D23, ill., comments that "its real origins lie rather in the French still life painting of the 17th century than in the progressive art in which Derain had played so important a part as recently as 1905".
Malcolm Gee. Dealers, Critics, and Collectors of Modern Painting: Aspects of the Parisian Art Market Between 1910 and 1930. PhD diss., Courtauld Institute of Art. New York, 1981, appendix F, pp. 77, 83, no. 107, notes that at the second Kahnweiler sale, it was sold to Lefebure, which may be a misprint for André Lefèvre or R. M. Lefebvre, an associate of Katia Granoff.
Lisa M. Messinger in "Twentieth Century Art." The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1980–1981. New York, 1981, p. 64.
Kathleen Howard, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York, 1983, p. 411, no. 4, ill. (color).
Ross Woodrow in20th Century Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Exh. cat., Australian National Gallery. Canberra, 1986, p. 9, ill. (color), notes the influence of medieval religious art in this picture, commenting that "the austere arrangement of the objects, suggests preparation for a Christian ritual".
Maureen Mullarkey. "Tuesday at the Met." Hudson Review 40 (Summer 1987), p. 197.
Roger Bevan. "Exhibition Reviews: The Metropolitan Museum: A New Wing for Modern Art." Apollo 127 (January 1988), pp. 40–41.
Lisa M. Messinger inTreasures from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: French Art from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century. Exh. cat., Yokohama Museum of Art. [Tokyo], 1989, pp. 196–97, no. 159, ill. (color).
Jane Lee. Derain. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art, Oxford. Oxford, 1990, p. 37.
Michel Kellermann. André Derain: Catalogue Raisonné de l'œuvre peint. Vol. 1, 1895–1914. Paris, 1992, p. 172, no. 284, ill. pp. 172, 181 (color and bw).
Miriam Simon inAndré Derain: Le peintre du "trouble moderne". Exh. cat., Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Paris, 1994, pp. 188, 190–91, 475, no. 89, ill. (color).
Françoise Marquet inAndré Derain: Le peintre du "trouble moderne". Exh. cat., Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Paris, 1994, p. 182.
Merlin James. "Book Reviews: André Derain. Catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre peint. Tome I (1895–1914)." Burlington Magazine 136 (June 1994), p. 392, questions whether this painting was no. 90, "Le pot bleu," in the "Second Post-Impressionist Exhibition," Grafton Galleries, London, 1912, noting that it would have travelled from London to the 1913 Armory Show [Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler stated that this painting was not lent to the Armory Show; see his October 23, 1962 letter and supplementary material in archive file: our painting was not shown at the Grafton Galleries or Armory exhibitions].
Barbara Burn, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. 2nd rev. ed. (1st ed., 1983). New York, 1994, p. 433, no. 6, ill. (color).
Lowery Stokes Sims and Sabine Rewald inStill Life: The Object in American Art, 1915-1995. Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Marsh Art Gallery, Richmond, Va. New York, 1996, p. 15, fig. 6 (color).
Anna Gruetzner Robins. Modern Art in Britain 1910–1914. Exh. cat., Barbican Art Gallery. London, 1997, p. 190, citing Ref. James 1994, lists it as probably no. 90 in Exh. London 1912.
Tomàs Llorens inForma: El Ideal Clásico en el Arte Moderno. Exh. cat., Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Madrid, 2001, pp. 108–10, 204, no. 36, ill. (color).
Francesco Poli inAndré Derain: La forma classica. Exh. cat., Centro Saint-Bénin, Aosta. Milan, 2003, pp. 26–27, ill.
Sabine Rewald in "Selections from the Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 61 (Spring 2004), p. 12, ill.
Dorthe Aagesen inAndré Derain: An Outsider in French Art. Exh. cat., Statens Museum for Kunst. [Copenhagen], 2007, pp. 218–20, fig. 1 (color), compares the mysterious, contemplative mood of this picture to the metaphysical painting of de Chirico.
Natalia Demina inMatisse to Malevich: Pioneers of Modern Art from the Hermitage. Ed. Albert Kostenevich. Exh. cat., State Hermitage Museum. Amsterdam, 2010, p. 158, ill. (color), compares it to "Still Life. Bread Basket, Jug and Glass of Red Wine" (1911; State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg; K286).
Roberta Smith. "They Turned the Sky Green and Yellow." New York Times (November 10, 2023), p. C1.
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