Juan Gris

Galerie Simon, Paris
Galerie Alfred Flechtheim, Berlin
Dr. Raemisch, Krefeld
Curt Valentin (Buchholz Gallery), New York
Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., New York (and sold: Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., New York, March 22, 1945, lot 76)
Dr. Albert Blum, Zurich
Margaret & Sydney Lowy, New York (and sold by the estate: Sotheby’s, New York, May 10, 1989, lot 373)
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

New York, Jacques Seligmann & Co., Juan Gris, 1938, no. 24, illustrated in the catalogue
Chicago, Arts Club of Chicago, Retrospective Juan Gris, 1939, no. 33
Richmond, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts & Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., 1941, no. 64
Sète, Musée Paul Valery, Juan Gris, rimes de la forme et de la couleur, 2011

Douglas Cooper, Juan Gris, Catalogue raisonné de l’oeuvre peint, vol. II, Paris, 1977, no. 513, illustrated p. 338
Douglas Cooper, Juan Gris, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, vol. II, San Francisco, 2014, no. 513, illustrated in color p. 773

The canvas is unlined. The surface is a bit dirty with yellowed spot varnish in some places; this work may benefit from a cleaning. A few fine lines of stable craquelure are visible, most notably to the center right of the composition, including in the purple book cover as well as in the lower right edge of the fruit bowl. There are also a couple lines of craquelure at extreme bottom center and toward the upper left corner. A pindot loss is visible to the extreme top center edge, but the paint layer is otherwise stable. Under UV light: a masking layer of varnish is difficult to read through, though fine strokes of inpainting are visible along the extreme edges of the composition, as well as inpainting within the tabletop and the bottom left corner of the knife. The work is otherwise fine and 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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Between 1911 and his untimely death in 1927 at the age of forty, Gris produced a rich and varied body of work, distinguished “by a refinement of calculation and a highly original color sense which have won him his separate place in Cubism's front rank...remain[ing] throughout his life a solitary seeker whose calm, detached sobriety of mind was reflected as an art of ascetic purity” (Juan Gris (exhibition catalogue), The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1958, p. 87).

A wonderful example of Gris’ mature works, Compotier et livre is the epitome of his masterful Cubist aesthetic. Daniel Kahnweiler called works from the period “the crowning achievement of his oeuvre” (L’Atelier de Juan Gris (exhibition catalogue), Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris, 1957, n.p.). Illustrative of what Gris described as his “deductive method” in which he would begin with abstract shapes, he materializes these forms into objects, firmly locking them into place by using a series of overlapping planes.

This harmonious composition contains the vital elements of Gris’ Cubism: the balance of the book, knife, pipe and fruit creates what the art historian Robert Rosenthal described as a “hermetic relationship of pictorial elements, one balanced by the next and then another until the subtlty of resonance reaches an exquisite pitch” (Norman Rosenthal, Juan Gris, New York, 1983, p. 5).