This painting belongs to a series of large still lifes of the mid-1920s that derive from small watercolors first exhibited at the Paul Rosenberg gallery in Paris in 1919, immediately after the conclusion of World War I. The bottle of wine and the galette (a thin almond-paste tart with a crisscross crust) are set against an open window or balcony with a view of the blue sky beyond. Despite its somber palette, the picture evokes a relaxed Mediterranean ambience. Picasso anticipated that these large, decorative canvases would find buyers among Rosenberg's affluent clients.
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Inscription: Signed and dated in vermillion pink paint (lower right): Picasso/ 24
[Paul Rosenberg, Paris, acquired from the artist before June 1925]; Alphonse Kann, Saint-Germain-en Laye and London (by 1930–42; on loan to the Museum of Modern Art, New York, November 1939–April 1941; consigned to Paul Rosenberg & Co., New York; sold on March 8, 1942, through its London branch, Rosenberg & Helft, to MoMA); Museum of Modern Art, New York (1942–77, acc. no. 190.42; deaccessioned by sale on February 15, 1977, through E. V. Thaw, New York, for Artemis S. A. Luxembourg, to Gelman); Jacques and Natasha Gelman, Mexico City and New York (1977–his d. 1986); Natasha Gelman, Mexico City and New York (1986–d. 1998; her bequest to MMA)
Paris. Paul Rosenberg. "Exposition d'oeuvres récentes de Picasso," June 15–July 1926, no. 29 [probably this picture].
Paris. Galerie Georges Petit. "Exposition Picasso," June 16–July 30, 1932, no. 146.
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Picasso: Forty Years of His Art," November 15, 1939–January 7, 1940, no. 185.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Picasso: Forty Years of His Art," February 1–March 5, 1940, no. 185.
City Art Museum of Saint Louis. "Picasso: Forty Years of His Art," March 16–April 14, 1940, no. 185.
Boston. Museum of Fine Arts. "Picasso: Forty Years of His Art," April 26–May 25, 1940, no. 185.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "Picasso: Forty Years of His Art," June 25–July 22, 1940, no. 185.
Cincinnati Art Museum. "Picasso: Forty Years of His Art," September 29–October 27, no. 185.
Cleveland Museum of Art. "Picasso: Forty Years of His Art," November 7–December 8, 1940, no. 185.
New Orleans. Isaac Delgado Museum of Art. "Picasso: Forty Years of His Art," December 20, 1940–January 17, 1941, no. 185.
Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "Picasso: Forty Years of His Art," February 1–March 2, 1941, no. 185.
Pittsburgh. Carnegie Museum of Art. "Picasso: Forty Years of His Art," March 15–April 13, 1941.
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Masterpieces of Picasso," July 16–September 7, 1941, no catalogue (checklist no. 193).
New York. Paul Rosenberg & Co. "Loan Exhibition of Masterpieces by Picasso (from 1919 to 1926)," February 11–March 7, 1942, brochure no. 3.
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Cubist and Abstract Art: New Acquisitions and Extended Loans," March 25–May 3, 1942, no catalogue (not on checklist; late addition).
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Art in Progress," May 24–October 15, 1944, unnumbered cat. (p. 223).
Newark Museum. "Seeing Modern Art," January 5–February 24, 1948, no catalogue.
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Three Modern Styles," July 11–September 5, 1950 (and twenty other U. S. venues through May 12, 1952), no catalogue (checklist no. 48).
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Paintings from the Museum Collection: Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Exhibition," October 9, 1954–February 6, 1955, no catalogue.
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Picasso in the Museum of Modern Art: 80th Birthday Exhibition. The Museum's Collection, Present and Future," May 15–September 18, 1962, unnum. checklist.
Pittsburgh. Carnegie Institute. "Works of Art from the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art," December 17, 1963–February 9, 1964, no catalogue.
Oregon. Portland Art Museum. "Picasso for Portland," September 21–October 25, 1970, no. 26.
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Picasso in the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art," February 3–April 2, 1972, unnumbered cat. (p. 119).
Kunstmuseum Basel. "Picasso: Aus dem Museum of Modern Art, New York und Schweizer Sammlungen," June 15–September 12, 1976, no. 48.
Natonal Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. "Kyubizumu ten/Cubism," October 2–November 14, 1976, no. 83.
National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto. "Kyubizumu ten/Cubism," November 23–December 19, 1976, no. 83.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Twentieth-Century Modern Masters: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection," December 12, 1989–April 1, 1990, unnumbered cat. (p. 168).
London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Twentieth-Century Modern Masters: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection," April 19–July 15, 1990, unnumbered cat.
Cleveland Museum of Art. "Picasso & Things: The Still-Lifes of Picasso," February 26–May 3, 1992, unnumbered cat. (p. 353).
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Picasso & Things: The Still-Lifes of Picasso," June 7–August 23, 1992, unnumbered cat.
Paris. Grand Palais. "Picasso & Things: The Still-Lifes of Picasso," September 22–December 28, 1992, unnumbered cat.
Martigny. Fondation Pierre Gianadda. "De Matisse à Picasso: Collection Jacques et Natasha Gelman," June 18–November 1, 1994, unnumbered cat. (p. 192).
Barcelona. Museu Picasso. "Life and Death in Picasso: Still Life/Figure, c. 1907–1933," November 20, 2008–March 1, 2009, unnumbered cat. (p. 161).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Picasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 27–August 1, 2010, no. 73.
Bulletin de "l'effort moderne" no. 13 (March 1925), ill. facing p. 8.
Christian Zervos. "De l’importance de l’objet dans la peinture d’aujourd’hui (III)." Cahiers d’Art 5 (1930), p. 291, ill.
André Schaeffner. "L'Homme à la clarinette." Documents 2, no. 3 (1930), p. 164, ill.
Christian Zervos et al. "Picasso [special issue coinciding with Exh. Paris 1932]." Cahiers d'art 7, nos. 3-5 (1932), p. 158, ill.
Waldemar George. "Aut Caesar aut Nihil: The Picasso Exhibition." Formes no. 25 (May 1932), ill. between pp. 268–69.
Genaro Estrada. Genio y figura de Picasso. Mexico, 1936, p. 58, no. 146.
James Thrall Soby. "Picasso: A Critical Estimate." Parnassus 11 (December 1939), pp. 9, 12.
Sheldon Cheney. The Story of Modern Art. [4th reprint, 1947]. New York, 1941, p. 458, ill.
Alfred H. Barr Jr., ed. Painting and Sculpture in the Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1942, pp. 68–69, no. 489, ill.
Egidio Bonfante and Juti Ravenna. Arte cubista, con le "Méditations esthétiques sur la peinture" di Guillaume Apollinaire. Venice, 1945, p. 224, pl. 25.
Alfred H. Barr Jr. Picasso: Fifty Years of His Art. New York, 1946, pp. 134–35, 282, ill.
José Gómez Sicre. "Barr y Picasso." El Nacional 4 (January 12, 1947), p. 9, ill.
Alfred H. Barr Jr., ed. Painting and Sculpture in the Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1948, pp. 102, 318, no. 608, ill.
José Gómez Sicre. "Picasso." Norte 8 (March 1948), p. 17, ill.
Hugo Munsterberg. Twentieth-Century Painting. New York, 1951, pp. ix, 9, pl. 6.
Christian Zervos. Pablo Picasso. Vol. 5, Oeuvres de 1923 à 1925. Paris, 1952, p. 90, no. 185, ill.
José Camón Aznar. Picasso y el Cubismo. Madrid, 1956, pp. 200, 733, ill.
Allen Leepa. The Challenge of Modern Art. Rev. ed. New York, 1957, pp. 132, 253, fig. 46.
Alfred H. Barr Jr. Painting and Sculpture in The Museum of Modern Art: A Catalog. New York, 1958, p. 49.
Maurice Raynal. Picasso. Geneva, 1959, p. 83, ill.
Robert Rosenblum. Cubism and Twentieth-Century Art. New York, 1960, pp. 92, 108, 320, pl. 66.
Harry Harmon. Picasso for Children. New York, 1962, pp. 62–63, ill., calls it "Still Life with a Cake".
François Daulte. Picasso. Geneva, 1966, pp. 38–39, ill.
Thomas R. Hart and Carlos Rojas, ed. La España moderna; vista y sentida por los españoles. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1966, p. 62, ill.
Jean Leymarie. Picasso: The Artist of the Century. New York, 1972, p. 51, ill.
Pierre Daix. La Vie de peintre de Pablo Picasso. Paris, 1977, pp. 190–91, 194 n.38.
Pierre Daix. "On a Hidden Portrait of Marie-Thérèse." Art in America 71 (September 1983), pp. 126–27, ill.
Patrick-Gilles Persin. "La Collection Jacques et Natasha Gelman." L'Œil no. 465 (October 1994), p. 49.
Pierre Daix. Dictionnaire Picasso. Paris, 1995, pp. 206, 549–50.
Carsten-Peter Warncke. Pablo Picasso, 1881–1973. Ed. Ingo F. Walther. Vol. 1, The Works 1890–1936. Cologne, 1995, ill. p. 314 (color), calls it "Still Life with a Cake".
Herschel B. Chipp and Alan Wofsy. The Picasso Project: Picasso's Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings, and Sculpture, A Comprehensive Illustrated Catalogue, 1885-1973. Vol. 3, Neoclassicism II, 1922–1924. San Francisco, 1996, pp. 216, 266, no. 24-073, ill.
Judith H. Dobrzynski. "20th Century Art Treasures Are Left to Met." New York Times (May 6, 1998), pp. A1, B6.
Michael Asher. Painting and Sculpture from The Museum of Modern Art: Catalog of Deaccessions, 1929 through 1998. New York, 1999, p. 13.
Roberta Smith. "In a Brash Yet Refined School, Everyone Belongs Together." New York Times (June 15, 2001), p. E37.
Julia May Boddewyn in Michael FitzGerald. Picasso and American Art. Exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art. New York, 2006, pp. 352, 359, 367, 372.
Sabine Rewald inPicasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Gary Tinterow and Susan Alyson Stein. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2010, pp. 201–2, no. 73, ill. (color).
Isabelle Duvernois inPicasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Gary Tinterow and Susan Alyson Stein. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2010, pp. 202–3, figs. 73.1 (Photomicrograph, detail), 73.2 (X-radiograph, detail).
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, Malaga 1881–1973 Mougins, France)
1921
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