Still Life (Glass and Cigarette Pack)

1914
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
This collage contains a rare autobiographical reference by Braque, who was a keen cyclist: the fragment of an ad for the bimonthy magazine Le Cyclotouriste. The work likely dates from around June 28, 1914, when the artist embarked on a bicycle trip from Sens to Sorgues (a distance of some 370 miles). He framed his own oval picture with a bespoke mat crafted from trompe l’oeil linen wallpaper so that a piece of it crosses the threshold. The rapidly scripted letters that appear literally out and ahead of the rest of the papers likely express the “[vit]esse,” or speed, with which he aimed to complete his cycling journey.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Still Life (Glass and Cigarette Pack)
  • Artist: Georges Braque (French, Argenteuil 1882–1963 Paris)
  • Date: 1914
  • Medium: Cut-and-pasted laid and wove papers, newspaper, printed wallpaper, printed packing, charcoal, graphite, oil paint, and watercolor on paperboard
  • Dimensions: 13 13/16 × 11 in. (35.1 × 27.9 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: The Art Institute of Chicago, Gift in memory of Charles Barnett Goodspeed by Mrs. Charles B. Goodspeed (1947.879)
  • Rights and Reproduction: The Art Institute of Chicago / Art Resource, NY. © 2020 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art