The complex arrangement of intersecting planes, letters, and fractured objects in Braque's work is virtually indistinguishable from Picasso's paintings of the same time. The two spent the summer of 1911 together in Céret, a small town popular with artists in the French Pyrenees, where they explored the formal elements of what later became known as Cubism. The banderillas of the title—wooden sticks with steel barbs used in bullfights—may have been included as a tribute to Picasso, since Braque himself was not a bullfighting enthusiast.
[Galerie Kahnweiler, Paris, 1911–14; stock no. 813; acquired from the artist; sequestered Kahnweiler stock, Paris, 1914–21; second Kahnweiler sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, November 17–18, 1921, no. 26, as "Nature morte," for Fr 450 to M. Grassat for Simon]; [Galerie Simon, Paris, 1921–24; stock no. 6851]; Jacques Zoubaloff, Paris (1924–35; his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, November 27–28, 1935, no. 124, as "Nature morte aux banderilles," for Fr 3,500); Armand Salacrou, Paris and Le Havre; [Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris, 1955–c. 1959; stock no. 6851]; Mr. and Mrs. Leigh B. Block, Chicago (c. 1959–79; sold in 1979 to Thaw); [E. V. Thaw & Co., Inc. and Acquavella Galleries, New York, 1979; sold to Gelman]; Jacques and Natasha Gelman, Mexico City and New York (1979–his d. 1986); Natasha Gelman, Mexico City and New York (1986–d. 1998; her bequest to MMA)
Paris. Musée des Arts Décoratifs. "Cinquante ans de peinture française dans les collections particulières, de Cézanne à Matisse," March–April 1952, no. 19 (as "Nature morte aux banderilles").
Washington, D.C. National Gallery of Art. "100 European Paintings & Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Leigh B. Block," May 4–June 11, 1967, no. 47 (as "Still Life with Banderillas").
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "100 European Paintings & Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Leigh B. Block," September 21–November 2, 1967, no. 47.
Boston. Museum of Fine Arts. "One Hundred European Paintings & Drawings from the Collection of Mr. & Mrs. Leigh B. Block," February 2–April 14, 1968, no. 47.
Saint-Paul. Fondation Maeght. "Georges Braque," July 5–September 30, 1980, no. 40 (as "Nature morte aux banderilles," lent by a private collection, New York).
London. Tate Gallery. "The Essential Cubism, 1907–1920: Braque, Picasso & their friends," April 27–July 10, 1983, extended to July 31, 1983, no. 18 (as "Still-life with a Pair of Banderillas," lent by Mr. and Mrs. Jacques Gelman, Mexico).
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Picasso and Braque: Pioneering Cubism," September 24, 1989–January 16, 1990, unnumbered cat. (p. 202) [exhibited through November 1989].
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. 111).
London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Twentieth-Century Modern Masters: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection," April 19–July 15, 1990, unnumbered cat.
Mexico City. Centro Cultural Arte Contemporáneo. "La Colección de Pintura Mexicana de Jacques y Natasha Gelman," June 23–October 11, 1992 (ill. p. 12).
Martigny. Fondation Pierre Gianadda. "De Matisse à Picasso: Collection Jacques et Natasha Gelman," June 18–November 1, 1994, unnumbered cat. (p. 135).
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. 70; as "Still Life with a Pair of Banderillas").
Fort Worth. Kimbell Art Museum. "Picasso and Braque: The Cubist Experiment 1910-1912," May 29–August 21, 2011, no. 6.
Paris. Grand Palais. "Georges Braque," September 18, 2013–January 6, 2014, no. 65.
Houston. Museum of Fine Arts. "Georges Braque: A Retrospective," February 13–May 11, 2014, no. 65.
Guillaume Janneau. L'Art cubiste: Théories et réalisations, étude critique. Paris, 1929, pl. 2.
George Isarlov. Georges Braque. Paris, 1932, p. 17, no. 110, as "Les Banderilles et le journal 'La Presse'".
Francine du Plessix. "The Flawless Eye: Mary and Leigh Block." The Collector in America. Ed. Jean Lipman. New York, 1970, p. 112, ill. (installation photo).
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. 54, 80, no. 93.
Nicole Worms de Romilly and Jean Laude. [Catalogue de l'œuvre de Georges Braque]. Vol. [1], Le Cubisme, fin 1907–1914. [Paris], 1982, p. 270, no. 91, ill. p. 128 (color), as "Les Banderilles (Still Life with Banderillas)".
Douglas Cooper and Gary Tinterow. The Essential Cubism: Braque, Picasso & their friends, 1907–1920. Exh. cat., Tate Gallery. London, 1983, pp. 70–71, no. 18, ill. (color), date it Céret, summer 1911; note that it is the only still-life with a bullfighting reference in Braque's œuvre; call it a counterpart to Picasso's "Still Life with a Bottle of Rum" (MMA 1999.363.63) and "Still Life 'Le Torero'" (both 1911) in which the bullfighting journal "Le Torero" appears.
John Dorsey. "New Wing Lifts the Met Into the 20th Century." Sun (Baltimore, Md.) (February 1, 1987), p. 12K, calls it "Still Life with Banderillos".
Roger Bevan. "Exhibition Reviews: The Metropolitan Museum: A New Wing for Modern Art." Apollo 127 (January 1988), p. 40, calls it "Still-Life with Banderillas" and dates it 1912.
Sabine Rewald inTwentieth-Century Modern Masters: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection. Ed. William S. Lieberman. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1989, pp. 110–12, 295, ill. (color and bw), dates it summer 1911; describes the banderillas as "dart-like, steel-barbed, wooden sticks decorated with paper" used to injure the bull during bullfights, and included here "as a tribute" to Picasso.
William S. Lieberman inTwentieth-Century Modern Masters: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection. Ed. William S. Lieberman. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1989, pp. 10–11, 14–15, fig. 4 (color, installation photo).
William Rubin, ed. Picasso and Braque: Pioneering Cubism. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1989, ill. p. 202 (color), dates it Céret, [August] 1911.
Gary Tinterow inTwentieth-Century Modern Masters: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection. Ed. William S. Lieberman. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1989, p. 33.
John Golding inTwentieth-Century Modern Masters: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection. Ed. William S. Lieberman. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1989, p. 37.
John Russell. "20th-Century Works Collected By a Couple With a Shared Vision." New York Times (December 12, 1989), p. C24.
Pepe Karmel. "Appendix 2: Notes on the Dating of Works." Picasso and Braque: A Symposium. Ed. Lynn Zelevansky. New York, 1992, pp. 331, 344, notes that it was probably begun in August 1911 while Picasso was in Céret, but may have been completed after his departure; identifies it as one of the still lifes listed by Braque in an October 1911 letter as being sent to Kahnweiler.
Isabelle de Wavrin. "L'Œil infaillible de Jacques Gelman." Beaux Arts no. 125 (July-August 1994), p. 47.
Judith H. Dobrzynski. "20th Century Art Treasures Are Left to Met." New York Times (May 6, 1998), p. B6.
Andrew Decker. "Metropolitan: Une Exceptionnelle donation." Beaux Arts no. 170 (July 1998), p. 24.
Grace Glueck. "When One City Was the Heart of Art's Youth." New York Times (March 10, 2000), p. E39.
William S. Lieberman. "Les Peintres de Paris à New York." Connaissance des arts no. 578 (December 2000), p. 129.
Roberta Smith. "In a Brash Yet Refined School, Everyone Belongs Together." New York Times (June 15, 2001), p. E37.
Gary Tinterow inPicasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Gary Tinterow and Susan Alyson Stein. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2010, p. 13, fig. 16 (color, installation photo, Gelman apartment, 1989).
Claire Barry and Bart J. C. Devolder inPicasso and Braque: The Cubist Experiment 1910–1912. Exh. cat., Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth. Santa Barbara, 2011, p. 108 n. 5, pp. 111–13, 115, 117–18, 121–22, 128, no. 6, ill. (color) and fig. 22 (color detail, micrograph), date it summer 1911; note that Braque removed this canvas from its stretcher and tacked it to the wall while it was in progress; observe that the similarity in ground layers between this picture and Picasso's "Still Life with a Bottle of Rum" (1911; MMA 1999.363.63) indicates that the two artists shared supplies; note that Braque invented the technique of embedding sand into the paint for the first time with this picture.
Brigitte Leal inGeorges Braque, 1882–1963. Ed. Brigitte Leal, Gary Tinterow, and Alison de Lima Greene. Exh. cat., Grand Palais, Galeries nationales. Paris, 2013, pp. 60, 309, no. 65, ill. p. 68 (color).
Jacques Villeglé. "Georges Braque's and Pablo Picasso's Paintings." The Artist Project: What Artists See When They Look at Art. Ed. Chris Noey. New York, 2017, pp. 238–39, ill. (color).
Olivier Berggruen in Olivier Berggruen et al. Enchanted Reverie: Klee and Calder. Exh. cat., Di Donna. New York, 2024, p. 14, fig. 8 (color).
Georges Braque (French, Argenteuil 1882–1963 Paris)
Paris, summer 1911
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