Still Life with a Glass and Ace of Clubs
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.The construction technique Picasso used when making both three-dimensional reliefs and papiers collés perfectly suited his quickfire imagination, gift for improvisation, and dexterity. To speed up the creative process, he standardized his representation of key tabletop motifs, such as the fluted wineglass, and prepared a corps of cutout fruit, pipes, and playing cards that he could draw from when assembling his papiers collés. The brightly colored quarter apple in this example came from his existing stock. A few meandering black lines and deft snips transformed a scrap of paint-daubed paper into a surprisingly convincing marble shelf, the hand-drawn line beneath it enhancing the impression of physical projection.
Artwork Details
- Title: Still Life with a Glass and Ace of Clubs
- Artist: Pablo Picasso (Spanish, Malaga 1881–1973 Mougins, France)
- Date: 1914
- Medium: Pasted printed wallpaper, laid and wove papers, charcoal, graphite, and gouache on paperboard
- Dimensions: 13 5/16 × 7 15/16 in. (33.8 × 20.2 cm)
- Classification: Collages
- Credit Line: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon (2012.89.6)
- Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art