Bottle, Glass, and Newspaper
In a witty version of a “mirror image,” Braque took the oval backing board off a looking glass, covered it with white gesso, and turned the vertical format to a horizontal one to emphasize the tabletop effect. The two pieces of differently grained faux bois stand for the respective wood planes of wall and table, reinforcing oscillating viewpoints, while the latter displays the daily news: two actual pages and hand-drawn letters that refer to the newspaper Le Journal. He placed an ad for Motobloc automobiles (suggesting the male “drive”) next to one publicizing L’amour obligatoire (Mandatory love), a handbook on women’s “proper” sexual comportment, and conjoined them with a wineglass amusingly split into positive and negative forms.
Artwork Details
- Title: Bottle, Glass, and Newspaper
- Artist: Georges Braque (French, Argenteuil 1882–1963 Paris)
- Date: Paris, early 1914
- Medium: Collage of cut found printed newspapers and cut found printed wallpaper, charcoal, and gesso on board
- Dimensions: Oval: 19 1/2 × 24 1/4 in. (49.5 × 61.6 cm)
- Classifications: Drawings, Collages
- Credit Line: Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection, Gift of Leonard A. Lauder, 2016
- Object Number: 2016.237.14
- Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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