Punning and multivalent references delighted Cubist artists and their literary friends. Any word containing the sound “cube” was immediately embraced, from the widely advertised pats of dehydrated broth (“bouillon KUB”) to the celebrated Czech violinist Jan Kubelík, whose name features prominently in this painting. In spring 1912, in connection with a retrospective of work by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Kubelík performed a concert of Ingres’s favorite musical pieces on the deceased artist’s violin. The year after it was finished, the painting was included in the Armory Show, the exhibition that introduced modern art to America. One critic pointed out that even though Braque had misspelled Kubelík’s name, he had succeeded in putting the “art” in “Mozart.”
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Inscription: Signed (verso, left, in black paint): G Braque
[Galerie Kahnweiler, Paris, summer 1912–14; inv. no. 935, photo no. 1039, as "Violon et affiche," valued at Fr 500; sequestered Kahnweiler stock, December 12, 1914–23; fourth Kahnweiler sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, May 7, 1923, no. 123, as "Nature morte," sold for Fr 160, to Simone Breton for Levy]; Denise and Georges Levy, Strasbourg (1923–25; probably sold on October 3, 1925 through Simone Breton and Galerie Simon (Daniel Henry Kahnweiler) to an unidentified buyer, probably La Roche); Raoul La Roche, Paris (probably 1925–62; gift in 1962 to Speiser); his nephew, Andreas Leonard Speiser, Basel and Melide, Switzerland (1962–d. 1999); his heirs, Switzerland (1999–2002; sold in June 2002 to Lauder); Leonard A. Lauder, New York (from 2002)
Utica. Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. "1913 Armory Show, 50th Anniversary Exhibition," February 17–March 31, 1963, no. 205 (as "L'Affiche de Kubelik [Le Violon]," lent by Andreas Speiser).
New York. Armory of the Sixty-ninth Regiment. "1913 Armory Show, 50th Anniversary Exhibition," April 6–28, 1963, no. 205.
Munich. Haus der Kunst. "Georges Braque," October 18–December 15, 1963, no. 36 (as "Violine und Plakat").
Paris. Orangerie des Tuileries. "Georges Braque," October 16, 1973–January 14, 1974, no. 44 (as "Mozart Kubelick").
Paris. Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou. "Paris–New York," June 1–September 19, 1977, unnumbered cat. (p. 276; as "Le violon" or "L’affiche de Kubelick").
Bordeaux. Galerie des Beaux-Arts. "Georges Braque en Europe," May 14–September 1, 1982, no. 22 (as "Mozart—Kubelick").
Strasbourg. Musée d’Art Moderne. "Georges Braque en Europe," September 11–November 28, 1982, no. 22.
London. Tate Gallery. "The Essential Cubism, 1907–1920: Braque, Picasso & their friends," April 27–July 10, 1983, extended to July 31, 1983, no. 22 (as "Violin and Poster [Mozart/Kubelick]").
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Picasso and Braque: Pioneering Cubism," September 24, 1989–January 16, 1990, unnumbered cat. (p. 233; as [early spring] 1912).
Kunstmuseum Basel. "Picasso and Braque: Pioneering Cubism," February 25–June 4, 1990, unnumbered cat. (fig. 242).
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "High and Low: Modern Art, Popular Culture," October 7, 1990–January 15, 1991.
Kunstmuseum Basel. "Ein Haus für den Kubismus: Die Sammlung Raoul La Roche; Picasso, Braque, Léger, Gris—Le Corbusier und Ozenfant," July 8–October 11, 1998, no. 8.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Cubism: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection," October 20, 2014–February 16, 2015, no. 8.
Clive Bell and Roger Fry. Second Post-Impressionist Exhibition. Exh. cat., Grafton Galleries. London, 1912, p. 30, no. 61.
Catalogue of International Exhibition of Modern Art: Association of American Painters and Sculptors. Exh. cat., Armory of the Sixty-ninth Regiment. New York, 1913, p. 28, no. 205.
Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Modern Art: Association of American Painters and Sculptors. Exh. cat., Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago, 1913, unpaginated, no. 28.
International Exhibition of Modern Art: Under the Auspices of the Association of American Painters and Sculptors. Exh. cat., Copley Hall. Boston, 1913, unpaginated, no. 10.
"Nobody Who Has Been Drinking Is Let In to See the Show." World [New York] (February 7, 1913), ill. (caricature by Alex Sass, "This Post-Impression Portrait of Kubelik Playing Mozartian Rag-Time Impressed Us Most").
"Seeing a Violin Concerto through a Cubist's Glasses." Musical America (May 22, 1913), p. 5, ill.
"Art Extremists, in Broadsides of Lurid Color, Invade New York and Capture an Armory." New York Herald (February 17, 1913), p. 10.
George Isarlov. Georges Braque. Paris, 1932, p. 17, no. 122, as "Violon".
Juan Gris, Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso. Exh. cat., Kunsthalle Basel. Basel, 1948, p. 23, no. 126.
Henry R. Hope. Georges Braque. Exh. cat., Cleveland Museum of Art. New York, 1949, p. 160, no. 16.
Benedict Nicolson. "Post-Impressionism and Roger Fry." Burlington Magazine 93 (January 1951), p. 15, fig. 12, as "Kubelick".
1913 Armory Show: 50th Anniversary Exhibition, 1963. Exh. cat., Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica. New York, 1963, pp. 79, 184, no. 205, ill.
Douglas Cooper. Georges Braque. Exh. cat., Haus der Kunst. Munich, 1963, p. 38, no. 36, fig. 32.
G. Braque. Exh. cat., Galerie Beyeler. Basel, 1968, unpaginated (checklist), no. 15, ill.
Marco Valsecchi and Massimo Carrà. L'opera completa di Braque dalla scomposizione cubista al recupero dell'oggetto, 1908–1929. Milan, 1971, p. 90, no. 85, ill., as "Violino".
Francis Ponge, Pierre Descargues, and André Malraux. G. Braque. New York, 1971, p. 113, ill., as "Violin and Handbill" (French ed., as "Violon et affiche").
Jean Leymarie inGeorges Braque. Exh. cat., Orangerie des Tuileries. Paris, 1973, p. VIII.
Pierre Descargues and Massimo Carrà. Tout l'oeuvre peint de Braque, 1908–1929. Paris, 1973, p. 90, no. 85, ill., as "Violon".
Georges Braque. Exh. cat., Orangerie des Tuileries. Paris, 1973, p. 32, no. 44, ill. p. 88.
Donald E. Gordon. Modern Art Exhibitions, 1900–1916: Selected Catalogue Documentation. Vol. 2, Munich, 1974, pp. 624, 667, 695, 712.
Paris–New York. Exh. cat., Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou. Paris, 1977, p. 276, ill.
Georges Braque. Exh. cat., Fondation Maeght. Saint-Paul, 1980, p. 194, no. 45, ill. p. 89.
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, p. 54, no. 90, as "Nature morte".
Pierre Daix. Cubists and Cubism. Geneva, 1982, ill. p. 123 (installed in the Armory Show, Art Institute of Chicago, 1913).
Nicole Worms de Romilly and Jean Laude. [Catalogue de l'œuvre de Georges Braque]. Vol. [1], Le Cubisme, fin 1907–1914. [Paris], 1982, p. 274, no. 121, ill. p. 169.
Georges Braque en Europe: Centenaire de la naissance de Georges Braque (1882–1963). Exh. cat., Galerie des Beaux-Arts. Bordeaux, 1982, p. 114, no. 22, ill. pp. 24, 115.
Alvin R. Martin in Isabelle Monod-Fontaine with E. A. Carmean Jr. Braque: The Papiers Collés. Exh. cat., Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. Washington, D.C., 1982, pp. 70–71 (French ed., p. 53).
Douglas Cooper and Gary Tinterow. The Essential Cubism: Braque, Picasso & their friends, 1907–1920. Exh. cat., Tate Gallery. London, 1983, p. 78, no. 22, ill. p. 79.
Mark Roskill. The Interpretation of Cubism. London, 1985, p. 70, as "Violin".
Georges Braque, 1882–1963. Exh. cat., Museu Picasso. Barcelona, 1986, p. 128, no. 30, ill. p. 129.
Serge Fauchereau. Braque. New York, 1987, p. 126, no. 33, ill. (color), as "The Violin, Mozart, Kubelick".
Milton W. Brown. The Story of the Armory Show. 2nd ed. [1st ed., Greenwich, Conn., 1963]. New York, 1988, pp. 139, 250, no. 205, ill. p. 200 (installed in the Armory Show, Art Institute of Chicago, 1913), as "Le violon".
Bernard Zurcher. Georges Braque: Life and Work. New York, 1988, p. 77, ill. no. 50, as "Mozart Kubelick".
William Rubin, ed. Picasso and Braque: Pioneering Cubism. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1989, p. 27, ill., and ill. p. 233 (German ed., 1990, p. 21, ill., and fig. 242; French ed., 1990, and Spanish ed., 1991, p. 21, ill., and ill. p. 227).
Judith Cousins inPicasso and Braque: Pioneering Cubism. Ed. William Rubin. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1989, pp. 373–74 (German ed., 1990, p. 360; French ed., 1990, and Spanish ed., 1991, pp. 359–60).
Emily Bardack Kies inPicasso and Braque: Pioneering Cubism. Exh. brochure, Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1989, unpaginated.
Sophie Bowness inBraque: Still Lifes and Interiors. Exh. cat., Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. London, 1990, p. 58.
David Cottington. "New York, MoMA: Pioneering Cubism." Burlington Magazine 132 (February 1990), p. 160, as "Mozart/Kubelick".
Kirk Varnedoe in Kirk Varnedoe and Adam Gopnik. High and Low: Modern Art, Popular Culture. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1990, pp. 23, 46, fig. 50.
Kirk Varnedoe in Kirk Varnedoe and Adam Gopnik. High & Low: Moderne Kunst und Trivialkultur. Exh. cat.Munich, 1990, pp. 17, 30, fig. 48.
André Breton: La beauté convulsive. Exh. cat., Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou. Paris, 1991, pp. 177–8, as "L'Affiche de Kubelick".
Pepe Karmel. "Appendix 2: Notes on the Dating of Works." Picasso and Braque: A Symposium. Ed. Lynn Zelevansky. New York, 1992, p. 333.
Edward F. Fry. "Convergence of Traditions: The Cubism of Picasso and Braque." Picasso and Braque: A Symposium. Ed. Lynn Zelevansky. New York, 1992, p. 98.
Edward F. Fry et al. "Convergence of Traditions: The Cubism of Picasso and Braque. Discussion." Picasso and Braque: A Symposium. Ed. Lynn Zelevansky. New York, 1992, p. 110.
Christian Geelhaar. Kunstmuseum Basel: The History of the Paintings Collection and a Selection of 250 Masterworks. Zürich/Basel, 1992, p. 240.
Georges Braque rétrospective. Exh. cat., Fondation Maeght. Saint-Paul, 1994, pp. 98, 294, no. 38, ill. p. 99.
Angela Schneider inPicasso und seine Zeit: Die Sammlung Berggruen. Exh. cat.Berlin, 1996, p. 76.
Karin von Maur inMagie der Zahl in der Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts. Ed. Karin von Maur. Exh. cat., Staatsgalerie Stuttgart. Ostfildern bei Stuttgart, 1997, p. 3.
Mark Roskill inEin Haus für den Kubismus: Die Sammlung Raoul La Roche; Picasso, Braque, Léger, Gris—Le Corbusier und Ozenfant. Ed. Katharina Schmidt and Hartwig Fischer. Exh. cat., Kunstmuseum Basel. Ostfildern-Ruit, 1998, p. 83.
Katharina Schmidt and Hartwig Fischer, ed. Ein Haus für den Kubismus: Die Sammlung Raoul La Roche; Picasso, Braque, Léger, Gris—Le Corbusier und Ozenfant. Exh. cat., Kunstmuseum Basel. Ostfildern-Ruit, 1998, pp. 67, 297, no. 8, p. 305, no. 12, ill. p. 67.
Alex Danchev. Georges Braque: A Life. London, 2005, pp. xiii, 89, 152, pl. 9 (following p. 256).
Simone Breton. Lettres à Denise Lévy, 1919-1929, et autres textes: 1924-1975. 2005, pp. 133, 188.
John Richardson in collaboration with Marilyn McCully. A Life of Picasso. Vol. 2, The Cubist Rebel, 1907–1916. New York, 2009, p. 352.
Boris Anrep. "'Apropos of an Exhibition in London with Participating Russian Artists’ (1913)." Russian and Soviet Views of Modern Western Art, 1890s to Mid-1930s. Ed. Ilia Dorontchenkov and Nina Gurianova. Berkeley, 2009, p. 108, as "L'affiche de Kubelick (Violin)".
Pierre Daix. Braque avec Picasso: L'album de l'exposition. Exh. cat., Grand Palais. Paris, 2013, p. 24.
Carol Vogel. "Billion-Dollar Cubist Gift to the Met." International Herald Tribune (April 11, 2013), p. 12, ill.
Armand Israël. Georges Braque: Père du Cubisme, initiateur de l'art contemporain. Paris, 2013, p. 178, ill.
"Objects Promised to the Museum during the Year 2012–2013." The Metropolitan Museum of Art, One Hundred Forty-third Annual Report of the Trustees for the Fiscal Year July 1, 2012, through June 30, 2013 (2013), p. 45.
Didier Ottinger inThe Armory Show at 100: Modernism and Revolution. Ed. Marilyn Satin Kushner and Kimberly Orcutt. Exh. cat., New-York Historical Society. New York and London, 2013, p. 190, as "Violin".
Gail Stavitsky in Gail Stavitsky and Laurette E. McCarthy. The New Spirit: American Art in the Armory Show, 1913. Exh. cat., Montclair Art Museum. Montclair, N.J., 2013, ill. p. 36 (in newspaper clipping from "Musical America," May 22, 1913).
Michael R. Taylor inThe Armory Show at 100: Modernism and Revolution. Ed. Marilyn Satin Kushner and Kimberly Orcutt. Exh. cat., New-York Historical Society. New York and London, 2013, ill. p. 215 (caricature by Alex Sass, 1913).
Dominique Dupuis-Labbé. Le petit dctionnaire Braque du cubisme en 50 objets. Paris, 2013, p. 98, ill. (color) p. 99.
Angela Schneider inPicasso and His Time: Museum Berggruen. Exh. cat.Berlin, 2013, p. 72.
Jack Flam inCubism: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection. Ed. Emily Braun and Rebecca Rabinow. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2014, pp. 139–43, 312(2)n.10, (3)n.17, no. 8, ill. p. 141 (color).
Lewis Kachur inCubism: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection. Ed. Emily Braun and Rebecca Rabinow. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2014, p. 77.
Rebecca Rabinow inCubism: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection. Ed. Emily Braun and Rebecca Rabinow. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2014, p. 173.
Anna Jozefacka and Luise Mahler inCubism: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection. Ed. Emily Braun and Rebecca Rabinow. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2014, pp. 247–48, fig. 8 (installation photo, Exh. Chicago 1913).
Nicolas Surlapierre inBrouillon Kub: Les artistes cubistes et la caricature 1911–1918. Ed. Jeanne-Bathilde Lacourt and Nicolas Surlapierre. Exh. cat., LaM–Lille Métropole Musée d'art moderne, d'art contemporain et d'art brut, Villeneuve d'Ascq. Milan, 2014, pp. 40–41, ill. (color), erroneously as in a Basel private collection, as "Mozart Kubelick".
"The Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection: A Conversation with Emily Braun and Pepe Karmel." IFAR Journal 16, no. 3 (2015), p. 49, figs. 2 (color, on display in the living room of the Lauder residence, New York, 2014) and 29 (color).
Vérane Tasseau. "Les ventes de séquestre du marchand Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler (1921–1923)." Archives Juives: Revue d'histoire des Juifs de France 50/1 (Spring–Summer 2017), p. 36 n. 24.
Eva Reifert inLe Cubisme. Ed. Brigitte Leal, Christian Briend, and Ariane Coulondre. Exh. cat., Centre Pompidou, Galerie 1. Paris, 2018, pp. 259–60, fig. 2 (color).
Vérane Tasseau. "Lauder, Leonard A." Dictionnaire du Cubisme. Ed. Brigitte Leal. Paris, 2018, p. 406.
Ariane Coulondre. "Vauxcelles, Louis Mayer, dit Louis." Dictionnaire du Cubisme. Ed. Brigitte Leal. Paris, 2018, p. 275, erroneously listed as in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Christine Laloue. "Musique (représentations de la)." Dictionnaire du Cubisme. Ed. Brigitte Leal. Paris, 2018, p. 511, as "Mozart Kubelick".
Eva Reifert inThe Cubist Cosmos: From Picasso to Léger. Ed. Brigitte Leal, Christian Briend, and Ariane Coulondre. Exh. cat., Kunstmuseum Basel. Munich, 2019, pp. 259–60, fig. 2 (color) [German ed., Munich, 2019].
Max Hollein. Modern and Contemporary Art in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2019, ill. p. 30 (color).
Gabriel Montua inLes Musiques de Picasso. Ed. Cécile Godefroy. Exh. cat., Musée de la musique, Philharmonie de Paris. Paris, 2020, p. 96.
Vérane Tasseau. "Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler’s International Partnerships, 1907–1937." Pioneers of the Global Art Market: Paris-Based Dealer Networks, 1850–1950. Ed. Christel H. Force. London, 2020, pp. 80, 88 n. 22, as "Le Violon".
Trevor Stark. Total Expansion of the Letter: Avant-Garde Art and Language after Mallarmé. Cambridge, Mass., 2020, p. 155, fig. 2.15, colorpl. 8.
Annie Cohen-Solal. Un Étranger nommé Picasso: Dossier de police, no. 74.664. Paris, 2021, pp. 212–13.
Andrea Gottdang inImagine Mozart / Mozart Bilder. Exh. cat., Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin. Würzburg, 2021, p. 34, fig. 18 (color).
Florentine Muhry inBraque, 1906–1914: Erfinder des Kubismus/Inventor of Cubism. Ed. Susanne Gaensheimer and Susanne Meyer-Büser. Exh. cat., Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen. Düsseldorf, 2021, pp. 228–29.
Claire Le Thomas in Emily Braun and Elizabeth Cowling. Cubism and the Trompe l’Oeil Tradition. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2022, pp. 66–67.
Written on the verso (upper left, in black paint): 12
Leonard A. Lauder discusses his appreciation of the Cubist works of art he has collected. Leonard A. Lauder answers the question: "Which is your favorite picture?"
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.
