Glass, Newspaper, and Die

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.

Picasso constructed this relief inside a shallow wooden box, which approximates the frames that enclose Renaissance reliefs by the likes of Lorenzo Ghiberti. The fluted wineglass, carved from a rough scrap of wood, is seen both straight on and from above, as in a Cubist painting. The top of the die is sliced off in a spoof of steep linear perspective. For the newspaper, Picasso repurposed a powdered-milk tin, cutting and crumpling it as if it were paper. He used its embossed lettering to represent printed text but painted the letters of the masthead, [LE] JO[UR]NAL, by hand. Straying beyond the box’s threshold, it parodies the curling documents of trompe l’oeil paintings, whereas everything else undermines the very notion of illusionism.

Artwork Details

Overview

Exhibition History

Title: Glass, Newspaper, and Die
Artist: Pablo Picasso (Spanish, Malaga 1881–1973 Mougins, France)
Date: 1914
Medium: Oil, painted tin, iron wire, and wood
Dimensions: 6 7/8 × 5 5/16 × 1 3/16 in. (17.4 × 13.5 × 3 cm)
Classification: Sculpture
Credit Line: Musée National Picasso-Paris, Dation Pablo Picasso, 1979 (MP 45)
Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art