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The Marble Console

Juan Gris Spanish
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 still life is one of two by Gris with mirror fragments, which would have offered a Cubist reflection of any person who stood before them. The artist facetiously defended his shortcut by noting how a painted mirror can never really be convincing because the surface of an actual one is always changing: “There is nothing else to do but stick on a real piece.” The book page is taken from the author’s preface to an obscure historical novel, Le bourreau du roi (The King’s Executioner) by Roland Bauchery. The heading, “DE L’AUTEUR” (of/by the author), now stands for Gris the artist, who has appropriated Bauchery’s authorship for his own creative ends.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Marble Console
  • Artist: Juan Gris (Spanish, Madrid 1887–1927 Boulogne-sur-Seine)
  • Date: 1914
  • Medium: Oil, collage, and mirrored glass on canvas
  • Dimensions: 24 × 19 3/4 in. (61 × 50.2 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Private collection
  • Rights and Reproduction: Photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s, Inc. ©
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art