The invention of Cubist papier collé in 1912 inspired a new approach to handling the flat space of a painting. Indeed, the dozens of pinholes in this canvas are an indication that Braque used paper templates as he worked. By varying the density, size, and color of the dots on the final painted forms, Braque was able to create the impression of layered pieces of paper. The only real piece of paper on this canvas is a small lot number, “19,” at lower left. This painting was one of the almost three thousand works owned by the German-born dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, which were seized and then sold by the French government in a series of four auctions following World War I.
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Inscription: Signed (verso, lower center left, in pencil): G Braque [underlined]
[Galerie Kahnweiler, Paris, 1914; inv. no. 2233, photo no. 1201; sequestered Kahnweiler stock, December 12, 1914–21; second Kahnweiler sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, November 18, 1921, no. 19, as "Nature morte," sold for Fr 510, to an unidentified bidder]; Count Étienne de Beaumont, Paris (early 1920s–d. 1956); his heirs, France (1956–2006; sold in October 2006 to Lauder); Leonard A. Lauder, New York (from 2006)
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Picasso and Braque: Pioneering Cubism," September 24, 1989–January 16, 1990, unnumbered cat. (p. 324; as [spring] 1914).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Cubism: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection," October 20, 2014–February 16, 2015, no. 17.
"Échos de l'Hôtel Drouot. Liste Complète des prix atteints à la deuxième vente Kahnweiler." L'Esprit Nouveau: Revue internationale illustrée de l'activité contemporaine 15 (1921), p. 1824, as "Nature Morte".
George Isarlov. Georges Braque. Paris, 1932, p. 20, no. 195.
Georges Braque. Exh. cat., Kunsthalle Basel. Basel, 1933, p. 18, no. 70, ill.
Carl Einstein. Georges Braque. Paris, 1934, unpaginated (list of plates), pl. XXXI, as 1912.
Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler. Der Weg zum Kubismus. Stuttgart, 1958, pp. 86, 128, ill. p. 77.
John Russell. G. Braque. London, 1959, pp. 121–22, pl. 22.
John Richardson. G. Braque. Milan, 1960, p. 17, unpaginated (list of plates), pl. XIV.
John Richardson. G. Braque. Greenwich, Conn., 1961, p. 17, unpaginated (list of plates), pl. 14.
Edwin Mullins. The Art of Georges Braque. New York, 1968, pp. 80, 210, ill. no. 58.
Marco Valsecchi and Massimo Carrà. L'opera completa di Braque dalla scomposizione cubista al recupero dell'oggetto, 1908–1929. Milan, 1971, p. 93, no. 141, ill. p. 92.
Pierre Descargues and Massimo Carrà. Tout l'oeuvre peint de Braque, 1908–1929. Paris, 1973, p. 93, no. 141, ill. p. 92.
Winthrop Judkins. Fluctuant Representation in Synthetic Cubism: Picasso, Braque, Gris, 1910–1920. PhD diss., Harvard University. New York, 1976, p. 337, pl. B-B (21st illustration), ill. p. 520.
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. 53, no. 73, as "Nature morte".
Nicole Worms de Romilly and Jean Laude. [Catalogue de l'œuvre de Georges Braque]. Vol. [1], Le Cubisme, fin 1907–1914. [Paris], 1982, pp. 287–88, no. 228, ill. p. 239.
William Rubin, ed. Picasso and Braque: Pioneering Cubism. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1989, ill. p. 324 (German ed., 1990, fig. 409; French ed., 1990, and Spanish ed., 1991, ill. p. 318).
Karen Wilkin. Georges Braque. New York, 1991, p. 13, ill. no. 7.
"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.
Carl Einstein. Über Georges Braque und den Kubismus. Zurich, 2013, p. 180, fig. 31.
Emily Braun and 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. 235, fig. 104U (Kahnweiler auction sticker affixed to recto).
Rebecca Rabinow inCubism: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection. Ed. Emily Braun and Rebecca Rabinow. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2014, pp. 163, 314(4) nn.30, 32, no. 17, ill. p. 162 (color).
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, p. 256, fig. 17 (in Ref. Blok 1924).
"The Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection: A Conversation with Emily Braun and Pepe Karmel." IFAR Journal 16, no. 3 (2015), p. 47, figs. 2 (color, on display in the living room of the Lauder residence, New York, 2014) and 23 (color).
Fae Brauer. "Dealing with Cubism: Daniel-Henry Kahnwiler's Perilous Internationalism." The Art of Art Dealing. Leiden and Boston, 2017, pp. 151–53, fig. 5.8 (color).
Max Hollein. Modern and Contemporary Art in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2019, ill. p. 34 (color).
Anna Jozefacka and Luise Mahler inYears of Disarray 1908-1928. Avant-gardes in Central Europe. Ed. Karel Srp. Exh. cat., Olomouc Museum of Art. [Prague], 2019, p. 68, ill. p. 69 (as repr. in Ref. Blok 1924).
Written on the verso (bottom of left stretcher bar, in black crayon): C / 378 PBA
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 ninth-annual Women and the Critical Eye program featuring a conversation between Emily Braun and Rebecca Rabinow, who discuss Leonard Lauder's criteria for collecting, including the importance of the "aesthetic wow," rarity, state of conservation, and attention to a work's curriculum vitae.
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.
