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We look down onto a pile with a newspaper, theater program, pipe, a black and white checkerboard, and other objects painted as abstracted, geometric forms on a tabletop in this nearly square still life painting. Near the center, a rectangular form like a newspaper is painted with the headline “LE JOURNAL.” Next to it, to our left, a playbill has the name “FANTOMAS” written in black against a parakeet-green background, above black mask and a “65” in a circle below. There are blocks of stylized, painted wood grain and other areas of color that do not line up with the objects represented. For instance, this conflicting pattern means that the lettering of the newspaper changes from white against the brown woodgrain to green against white. Moreover, seemingly unconnected to the objects, colors, and spaces below, yet more objects like a goblet and bowl of fruit are painted with white outlines that overlay the wood and objects below. A checkerboard pattern is layered under the woodgrain and papers, near the lower right corner, and another pattern like architectural molding carved with stylized leaves runs along the back, above the papers. The papers and a few other objects seem to cast shadows on the blocks of color behind them, so areas of lilac purple at the top left and burgundy red along the right edge read visually as a background behind everything. The artist signed the work in black on the lower left corner: “Juan Gris 8-1915.”

Juan Gris

Fantômas, 1915

East Building, Mezzanine — Gallery 217-B

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 59.8 x 73.3 cm (23 9/16 x 28 7/8 in.)

framed: 78.7 x 93.3 x 8.8 cm (31 x 36 3/4 x 3 7/16 in.)

Credit Line

Chester Dale Fund

Accession Number

1976.59.1

Artists / Makers

Juan Gris (artist) Spanish, 1887 - 1927

Image Use

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Inscription

lower left in black paint: Juan Gris / 8-1915

Provenance

Acquired 1915 from the artist by (Galerie "L'Effort Moderne"/Léonce Rosenberg, Paris).[1] Earl Horter [1880-1940], Philadelphia, by 1929-1930;[2] purchased 25 June 1936 by Elizabeth Lentz Keim [later Mrs. Earl Horter, 1900-1985], Philadelphia;[3] sold by 1958 to Heinz Berggruen, Paris, until at least 1966.[4] Horst Pavel, Bad Homburg, Germany.[5] (Galerie Nathan, Zurich), by 1974;[6] purchased 1976 by NGA.

[1] The painting was Rosenberg stock number 5326. This information and the date acquired by Léonce Rosenberg comes from Juan Gris, exh. cat., Salas Pablo Ruiz Picasso, Madrid, 1985: 184.

[2] Research for the 1999 exhibition Mad for Modernism: Earl Horter and His Collection, organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, has not found firm evidence to document the purchase by Horter. The organizers of the exhibition believe the painting might have been purchased after it was reproduced in the "Bulletin de L'Effort Moderne" in June 1927. It was known to have been in Horter's possession by 1929-1930, when it was photographed with his collection in his house. (Information provided in letter of 6 February 1998 from Greer Pagano, Philadelphia Museum of Art, in NGA curatorial files)

[3] The Horter collection, including Fantômas, was shown at the Philadelhia Museum of Art 17 February to 13 March 1934. The painting was placed on loan to the museum on 11 February 1935, and remained on loan after Elizabeth Lentz Keim purchased the painting along with other paintings from the Horter collection. Earl Horter and Elizabeth Lentz Keim were married on 22 April 1938. Fantômas remained on loan to the museum until 10 December 1956. (Letter of 6 February 1998 cited in note 2)

[4] Berggruen lent the painting to the 1958 exhibition organized by The Museum of Modern Art and the 1965-1966 exhibition in Dortmund and Cologne. It is not clear if the painting was owned by Mr. Berggruen personally, or as stock in his gallery.

[5] The ownership by Pavel is given in the 1985 exhibition catalogue cited in note 1.

[6] Galerie Nathan lent the painting to the 1974 exhibitions in Paris and Baden-Baden.

Associated Names

Berggruen, Heinz
Galerie Nathan
Horter, Earl
Keim, Elizabeth Lentz
Pavel, Horst
Rosenberg, Léonce

Exhibition History

1932: Juan Gris, Marie Harriman Gallery, New York, 1932, no. 6, as Composition.

1934: The Earl Horter Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1934, no catalogue.

1935: Loan to display with permanent collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1935-1956.

1939: Juan Gris Retrospective, Arts Club of Chicago, 1939, no. 14.

1948: A Retrospective Exhibition of the Work of Juan Gris 1887-1927, Cincinnati Art Museum (organized by The Cincinnati Modern Art Society), 1948, no. 14, as Still Life.

1948: Picasso, Gris, Miro: The Spanish Masters of Twentieth Century Painting, San Francisco Museum of Art; Portland Art Museum, Oregon, 1948, no. 27, repro., as Still Life.

1958: Juan Gris, Museum of Modern Art, New York; Minneapolis Institute of Arts; San Francisco Museum of Art; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1958, unnumbered, repro. 58, as Still Life (shown only in New York).

1965: Juan Gris, Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund; Cologne, 1965-1966, no. 34, repro.

1974: Juan Gris, Kunsthalle, Baden-Baden, Germany, 1974, no. 34, repro., as Pfeife und Zeitung (Pipe and Journal).

1974: Juan Gris, Orangerie des Tuileries, Paris, 1974, no. 43, repro., as Nature Mort (Fantomas).

1975: Juan Gris, Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris, 1975, no. 43, repro. (listed in 1985 exh. cat., but may be the 1974 exhibition)

1978: Aspects of Twentieth-Century Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978-1979, no. 22, repro.

1980: Loan to display with permanent collection, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, 1980.

1983: Juan Gris, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; University Art Museum, Berkeley; The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1983-1984, no. 36, repro.

1985: Juan Gris, Salas Pablo Ruiz Picasso, Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid, 1985, no. 39, repro.

1990: High and Low: Modern Art and Pop Culture, Museum of Modern Art, New York; Art Institute of Chicago; Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, 1990-1992, no. 144, as Fantômas (Pipe and Newspaper).

1999: Mad for Modernism: Earl Horter and His Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1999, pl. 18.

2005: Juan Gris: Paintings and Drawings 1910-1927 (Juan Gris: Pinturas y dibujos, 1910-1927), Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, 2005, no. 57, repro.

2014: Collection Conversations: The Chrysler and the National Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, 2014-2015, no catalogue.

Bibliography

1984: Walker, 616, no. 950, color repro.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 191, repro.

1990: Varnedoe, Kirk and Adam Gopnik. High and Low: Modern Art and Popular Culture. New York, 1990: 127, fig. 144.

2004: Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 412-413, no. 344, color repro.