Juan Gris

Galerie Simon, Paris
Hermann Lange, Krefeld
Dr. Ulrich Lange, Krefeld
Ludwig Charell, New York
New Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above, circa 1954

Berlin, Galerie Alfred Flechtheim, In Memoriam Juan Gris, 1930, no. 59
New York, Buchholz Gallery, Juan Gris, 1950, no. 32, illustrated
Poughkeepsie, Vassar College Art Gallery, Art Since 1923, 1965

Cahiers d' Art, Paris, 1951, illustrated p. 136
Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, Juan Gris: His Life and Work, Paris, 1968, illustrated p. 310
Juan Antonio Gaya-Nuño, Juan Gris, Paris, 1974, no. 599, p. 246, illustrated p. 232
Douglas Cooper, Juan Gris Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, Paris, 1977, vol. ll, no. 564, p. 388, illustrated p. 389

This work is in excellent condition. The surface is clean and there are some thin but stable cracks in the white and grey pigments. Under UV, there is no apparent inpainting. There is a very faint vertical stretcher bar mark. Otherwise, the work is fine.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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Le napperon blanc, painted the year before Gris's untimely death in 1927, exemplifies the stylistic traits that defined Cubism.  The multiple planes and refracted perspective of Le napperon blanc  are typical of the optical experimentation of the movement, but the vibrant, rich palette show Gris's distinctive interpretation of Cubism.  The present work illustrates what Gris described as his 'deductive method' in which he would begin with abstract shapes that would, with the painting process, materialize into concrete objects.  Firmly locked into place by a series of overlapping planes, the guitar, tablecloth, and pipe achieve a solidity and clarity of definition that is the result of strong, geometric lines and intense blocks of color.  This still life is depicted atop the green rectangular table, juxtaposed against an expansive red plane, enhancing the dynamic immediacy of the composition.    

Mark Rosenthal writes: "Gertrude Stein called Juan Gris 'a perfect painter,' and it is not difficult to appreciate her characterization.  In a painting by him we find an intensely satisfying, hermetic relationship of pictorial elements, one balanced by the next and then another, until the subtlety of resonance reaches an exquisite pitch. The pictures demonstrate an equally refined relationship between the abstract play of forms and their starting point in the natural world.  This dialectic unites, too, the theoretically pure image of an object and the existence of it as witnessed by an individual in time and space.  Thus, if perfection represents, among other things, wholeness, purity, and the achievement of an absolute, then Gris's finest works are worthy of the appellation 'perfect'" (Juan Gris, New York, 1983, p. 9).

Fig. 1 Juan Gris's studio, 8 rue de la Mairie á Boulogne-sur-Seine, 1926
Fig. 2 Juan Gris (standing center) at Galerie Simon, rue d'Astorg, Paris, 1925