Marcelle la Brune
Artist
Juan Gris
(Spanish, 1887 - 1927)
Date1921
MediumColor lithograph
DimensionsImage: 11 3/4 x 9 inches (29.85 x 22.86 cm)
Credit LineGift of Jane Wade in memory of Curt Valentin
Object number55-73/4
Edition/State/Proof11/50
On View
Not on viewCollections
Gallery LabelFrom 1920 to 1921 Juan Gris stayed at Bandol on the French Mediterranean coast. There, he made a series of lithographs including this portrait of Marcelle la Brune, a woman from a family of high social standing, who was his lover for this brief period of time.
The pure, elegant contours and the concentration on systematized and repeated rhythms in Marcelle la Brune mark Gris' relinquishment of Cubism and his return to French Classicism. He explained: "Though in my system I may depart greatly from any form of idealistic or naturalistic art, in practice I cannot break away from the Louvre. Mine is the method of all times, the method used by the old masters: there are technical means and they remain constant."
The pure, elegant contours and the concentration on systematized and repeated rhythms in Marcelle la Brune mark Gris' relinquishment of Cubism and his return to French Classicism. He explained: "Though in my system I may depart greatly from any form of idealistic or naturalistic art, in practice I cannot break away from the Louvre. Mine is the method of all times, the method used by the old masters: there are technical means and they remain constant."
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