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

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