The Fruit Bowl

Paris, 1915–16

Not on view

Gris collaborated with his friend, the poet Pierre Reverdy, on a commissioned book, but the project stalled during World War I and remained unfinished at the time of Gris’s death. A reduced version, with color lithograph reproductions of eleven of Gris’s original still lifes, was published some thirty years later. The Reverdy poem that accompanies this image is titled “Compotier” (“The Fruit Bowl”): A hand reaches toward the arrangement of fruit and, like a bee, hovers over it. The circle where the fingers glide is drawn tight as a trap—then they resume their flight, leaving at the bottom of the dish a bright red scar. A drop of blood, of honey, on the fingertips. Between light and teeth, the web of desire weaves the bowlful of lips.

Artwork Details

Title: The Fruit Bowl
Artist: Juan Gris (Spanish, Madrid 1887–1927 Boulogne-sur-Seine)
Date: Paris, 1915–16
Medium: Graphite, wax crayon, and opaque watercolor on blue paperboard
Dimensions: 18 1/4 × 11 3/4 in. (46.4 × 29.8 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection, Gift of Leonard A. Lauder, 2016
Object Number: 2016.237.4
Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

More Artwork

By Juan Gris

From the same time and place

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Costume Design for the Shepherdess, for the Ballet 'Les Tentations de la Bergère, premiered at the Théâtre de Monte Carlo, 1924, Juan Gris Spanish, Watercolor and gouache — Costume Design for the Shepherdess, for the Ballet 'Les Tentations de la Bergère, premiered at the Théâtre de Monte Carlo, 1924
Juan Gris
1923

Au Soleil du Plafond

Multiple artists/makers

1955

Seated Angel (cover design for "L'Humoriste"), Juan Gris Spanish, Opaque watercolor and ink with graphite and pen on board — Seated Angel (cover design for "L'Humoriste")
Juan Gris
1909

Violin and Playing Cards on a Table, Juan Gris Spanish, Oil on canvas — Violin and Playing Cards on a Table
Juan Gris
1913

Violin and Engraving, Juan Gris Spanish, Oil, sand, collage on canvas — Violin and Engraving
Juan Gris
1913

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