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Still Life with Checked Tablecloth

Juan Gris Spanish
Paris, spring 1915
Not on view
Gris, a master of disguised images, presents a table brimming with coffee cups, stemmed wineglasses, a large white-footed fruit compote (seen from the side and from above) containing thickly painted grapes, a bottle of red wine, a bottle of Bass extra stout ale with its distinctive red diamond logo, a newspaper, and a guitar. Yet this painting has another equally compelling identity: a bull’s head. The coffee cup at lower center doubles as the animal’s snout, a black-and-white concentric circle at left is a “bull’s eye,” the bottle of ale is an ear, and the sinuous edge of the guitar is a horn. The letters “EAU” on the wine label, which ostensibly stand for “bEAUjolais” can just as easily represent “taurEAU” (bull).

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Still Life with Checked Tablecloth
  • Artist: Juan Gris (Spanish, Madrid 1887–1927 Boulogne-sur-Seine)
  • Date: Paris, spring 1915
  • Medium: Oil and graphite on canvas
  • Dimensions: 45 3/4 × 35 1/8 in. (116.2 × 89.2 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection, Purchase, Leonard A. Lauder Gift, 2014
  • Object Number: 2014.463
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

More Artwork

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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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