Bottle and Fruit Dish
Juan Gris Spanish
Not on view
Typically, the Cubists inserted different styles of representation within a single picture. Gris shaded the tablecloth at the left with naturalistic creases and folds, whereas the pedestal of the fruit dish appears two ways, with a convincingly modeled, reddish-brown base and as a flat-footed white silhouette. The shared border between the two renditions possibly triggers an illusion known as Rubin’s Vase: if the brown shape dominates, the profile of a down-turned head emerges. Together, what one sees of the wine label “BEAU[NE/JOLAIS]” and the newspaper “LE JOUR[NAL]” spells “the beautiful day,” an ironic counter to the ominous blacks that fill the backdrop and a wistful sentiment, given Gris’s pronounced gloom during World War I.
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