Artillery unites the traditional subject of a militia company with the distinctly modern style of Cubism. The painting depicts officers on horseback accompanying a caisson (ammunition wagon for moving artillery) that transports a field gun and three soldiers in helmets. In the background, a military band approaches wearing the blue and red colors of the French infantry. The artist’s geometric rendering of form lends strength to the already muscular composition and evokes the group’s cadenced movement through space. Painted three years before the outbreak of World War I, the painting appears to foretell the imminent conflict.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Artillery
Artist:Roger de la Fresnaye (French, Le Mans 1885–1925 Grasse)
Date:1911
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:51 1/4 × 62 3/4 in. (130.2 × 159.4 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Gift of Florene M. Schoenborn, 1991
Object Number:1991.397
Inscription: Signed and dated (lower right): R de la Fresnaye. 11
Christian Tetzen-Lund, Copenhagen (by spring 1916–at least 1917); private collection, Sweden (in 1922); [Bignou Gallery, Paris and New York, by 1931–43; on consignment September 1938–January 1939 to Alex Reid & Lefevre, Ltd., London; stock no. BNYC92; sold on May 24, 1943, for $8,000, to Marx]; Samuel and Florene Marx, Chicago (1943–his d. 1964); Florene May Marx, later Mrs. Wolfgang Schoenborn, New York (1964–91; her gift to MMA)
Paris. Quai d'Orsay. "Salon des Indépendants," March 20–May 16, 1912, no. 1235.
Paris. Galerie Levesque. "Peintures, dessins, aquarelles de Roger de la Fresnaye," April 20–May 3, 1914, no. 28.
Copenhagen. Gronningen. "Udstillingen I Gronningen," 1917, no. 5 (as "Fransk Artilleri," lent by Herr Tetzen-Lund).
Paris. Galerie Barbazanges. "R. de la Fresnaye, 1885–1925: Exposition rétrospective," December 2–18, 1926, no. 24.
Paris. Galerie Georges Petit. "Cent ans de peinture française," June 15–30, 1930, no. 40.
London. Alex Reid & Lefevre, Ltd. "Paintings and Drawings by Roger de la Fresnaye (1884–1925)," March 1931, no. 9 (lent by Mr. Tetzen-Lund, Copenhagen).
Detroit Institute of Arts. "Paintings by the School of Paris from the Etienne Bignou Gallery," May 4–June 14, 1936, extended to September 30, 1936, unnum. checklist (lent by the Etienne Bignou Gallery, New York).
Montreal. W. Scott & Sons. "Exhibition of Modern French Paintings: The School of Paris," October 1936, no. 13.
London. Alex Reid & Lefevre, Ltd. "L'École de Paris," November 1938, no. 23.
New York. Bignou Gallery. "Twentieth Century French Painters and Picasso," April 17–May 13, 1939, no. 7.
New York. Bignou Gallery. "A Selection of 20th Century Paris Painters," October 27–November 22, 1941, no. 9 (as "L'Artillerie").
New York. Bignou Gallery. "A Selection of Paintings of the Twentieth Century," February 8–March 20, 1943, no. 7.
Arts Club of Chicago. "Roger de la Fresnaye," December 3–27, 1943, brochure no. 23 (as "L'Artillerie," lent by Mr. Samuel A. Marx, Chicago).
Washington, D. C. Phillips Memorial Gallery. "Retrospective Exhibition of Work by Roger de la Fresnaye," January 16–February 15, 1944, no. 13 (as "L'Artillerie").
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Paintings from Private Collections: A 25th Anniversary Exhibition," May 31–September 5, 1955, no. 72 (lent by Mr. and Mrs. Samuel A. Marx).
Arts Club of Chicago. "An Exhibition of Cubism on the Occasion of the Fortieth Anniversary of the Arts Club of Chicago," October 3–November 4, 1955, no. 38 (as "The Artillery," lent by Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Marx).
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "The School of Paris: Paintings from the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection," November 2, 1965–January 2, 1966, unnumbered cat. (p. 40).
Art Institute of Chicago. "The School of Paris: Paintings from the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection," February 11–March 27, 1966, unnumbered cat.
City Art Museum of Saint Louis. "The School of Paris: Paintings from the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection," April 26–June 13, 1966, unnumbered cat.
Mexico City. Museo de Arte Moderno. "The School of Paris: Paintings from the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection," July 2–August 7, 1966, unnumbered cat.
San Francisco Museum of Art. "The School of Paris: Paintings from the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection," September 2–October 2, 1966, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Florene M. Schoenborn Bequest: 12 Artists of the School of Paris," February 11–May 4, 1997, extended to August 31, 1997, brochure no. 8.
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. 72).
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. 18.
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. 18.
Barcelona. Museu Picasso. "Roger de La Fresnaye, 1885–1925: Cubismo y tradición," March 1–June 5, 2006, no. 40.
Roger Allard. R. de la Fresnaye. Paris, 1922, p. 6, ill. p. 25, lists it in a private collection, Sweden.
Carl Einstein. Die Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts. 3rd ed. (1st ed, 1926). Berlin, 1931, pp. 56, 637, ill. p. 302, as in the collection of Etienne Bignou.
Herbert Furst. "Art News and Notes." Apollo 13 (January–June 1931), ill. p. 203.
Amelia Defries. The Arts in France: From the Time of Louis XIV to the Present Day. London, 1931, ill. opp. p. 116, lists it in the Etienne Bignou collection, Paris.
E[berhard]. Nebelthau. Roger de la Fresnaye. Paris, 1935, pp. 18–19, ill. n. p.
Exhibition of Modern French Paintings: The School of Paris. Exh. cat., W. Scott & Sons. Montreal, 1936, unpaginated, no. 13.
L'Ecole de Paris. Exh. cat., Alex. Reid & Lefevre, Ltd. London, 1938, no. 23, ill.
Twentieth Century French Painters and Picasso. Exh. cat., Bignou Gallery. New York, 1939, unpaginated, no. 7, ill.
"Heard at the Galleries." Pictures on Exhibit 1–2 (May 1939), p. 30, ill. p. 24, notes that it is currently being shown at the Bignou Gallery, its first exhibition in the United States.
"'L'Artillerie' by Roger de la Fresnaye." Art News 37 (April 22, 1939), p. 6, ill.
D[oris]. B[rian]. "The Passing Shows: Some Modern Landmarks in a Variety Show." Art News 49 (November 1–14, 1941), p. 25, ill.
Rosamund Frost with Aimée Crane. Contemporary Art: The March of Art from Cézanne until Now. New York, 1942, p. 13, ill. p. 57.
Germain Seligmann. Roger de la Fresnaye. Exh. brochure, Arts Club of Chicago. Chicago, 1943, unpaginated.
D[uncan]. P[hillips]. inRetrospective Exhibition of Work by Roger de la Fresnaye. Exh. cat., Phillips Memorial Gallery. Washington, D. C., 1944, unpaginated, no. 13.
Germain Seligman. Roger de la Fresnaye. New York, 1945, p. 36, no. 10, pl. V.
Introduction by Alfred H. Barr Jr. "Paintings from Private Collections." Museum of Modern Art Bulletin 22 (Summer 1955), p. 32, no. 72, ill. p. 25 (installation photo).
Paintings from Private Collections. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1955, p. 13.
Howard Devree. "Modern Panorama: Notable Museum Show Raises Questions." New York Times (July 10, 1955), ill. p. 82.
Cubism, 1910–1912. Exh. cat., Sidney Janis Gallery. New York, 1956, unpaginated, no. 17, ill., as Collection Mr. and Mrs. Samuel A. Marx; not in exhibition.
René Gaffé. Roger de la Fresnaye. Brussels, 1956, pl. VI.
Lucy R. Lippard inThe School of Paris: Paintings from the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1965, p. 41, ill. p. 40 (color).
Robert Rosenblum. Cubism and Twentieth-Century Art. Rev. ed. (1st ed., 1960). New York, 1966, pp. 173, 322, no. 113, ill. p. 166, dates it to 1911–12.
Germain Seligman. Roger de la Fresnaye, with a Catalogue Raisonné. Greenwich, Conn., 1969, p. 148, no. 111, ill. and ill. p. 33 (color).
Clement Greenberg. The Collected Essays and Criticism. Ed. John O'Brian. Vol. 2, Arrogant Purpose: 1945–1949. Chicago and London, 1986, p. 40.
Maureen Mullarkey. "Tuesday at the Met." Hudson Review 40 (Summer 1987), pp. 196–97.
Sabine Rewald in "Recent Acquisitions. A Selection: 1991–1992." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 50 (Fall 1992), pp. 60–61, ill. (color).
Barbara Burn, ed. Masterpieces of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, p. 294, ill. (color).
Richard Cork. A Bitter Truth: Avant-Garde Art and the Great War. New Haven and London, 1994, p. 20, colorpl. 10.
Barbara Burn, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. 2nd rev. ed. (1st ed., 1983). New York, 1994, p. 436, no. 10, ill. (color).
Carol Vogel. "32 Works of Art by Masters Left to Met and the Modern." New York Times (November 25, 1996), p. C12.
Georges Seligman. Roger de la Fresnaye. Neuchâtel, 2002, pp. 54–56, 72, 81, ill. p. 53 (color).
Françoise Lucbert inRoger de La Fresnaye, 1885–1925: Cubisme et tradition. Ed. Françoise Lucbert. Exh. cat., Musee de Tesse, Le Mans. Paris, 2005, pp. 50, 196, no. 40, ill. pp. 46, 53 (color detail and overall).
Lennart Gottlieb. Modernism. Reinventing Painting: 1908–41. Exh. cat., ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum. Aarhus, 2012, pp. 25, 75–76, 251, 254, no. 10, fig. 33 (color), notes that it was acquired by Tetzen-Lund in 1916.
Patricia Leighten. The Liberation of Painting: Modernism and Anarchism in Avant-Guerre Paris. Chicago, 2013, p. 143.
Kenneth E. Silver inCubism: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection. Ed. Emily Braun and Rebecca Rabinow. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2014, p. 180.
Roberta Smith. "A Trans-Atlantic View of Modernism." New York Times (January 9, 2015), p. C30.
Roger de la Fresnaye (French, Le Mans 1885–1925 Grasse)
1909
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