The Fruit Bowl

Juan Gris Spanish
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

Object Information
  • 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

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