Juan Gris

Galerie Simon, Paris
Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris
Hanover Gallery, London
Denys Sutton, London
Thence by descent

Paris, Galerie Simon, Juan Gris, 1923, no. 54
London, Hanover Gallery, Oeuvres choisies, 1950, no. 17
Swansea, England, Glenn Vivian Art Gallery, Some Modern French Paintings and Drawings, 1956, no. 29 
London, Marlborough Fine Art Ltd., Juan Gris, Exhibition in Honour of Daniel-H. Kahnweiler, 1958, no. 19

Little Review, New York, Autumn/Winter 1924-25, illustrated n.p.
Douglas Cooper, Juan Gris, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, vol. II, Paris, 1977, no. 421, illustrated p. 249

 

The canvas has not been lined. There are thin lines of stable cracking to the purple pigments as well as some very fine lines in the reds of the upper-left corner. The surface is dirty. Under UV light: no inpainting is apparent. The work is in good condition.
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 Raisin noir is an excellent example of Juan Gris’ shifting approaches to Cubism in the years following the First World War. Beginning around 1911, Gris established himself in Parisian avant-garde circles alongside Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque thanks in no small part to his analytical Cubist still-lifes. By 1918 however, Gris had abandoned the nuanced modulation and hatched strokes of his earlier works in favor of flattened planes of color and reductive tonal gradations. His emphasis on geometry and synthesis is abundantly present in Le Raisin noir, in which he achieves a dynamic equilibrium between representation and abstraction through the harmonic simplicity of the work's composition. Gris’ dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler described the 1920s as the most fruitful period of the artist's career, a sentiment echoed by Douglas Cooper who concluded, “It is only in 1920 that Gris at last seems in full possession of his resources” (quoted in J. T. Soby, Juan Gris (exhibition catalogue), Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1958, p. 96).