The Visual Games of Juan Gris

Beginning in 1912, Cubism was emerging as the era’s most compelling artistic style, radically reimagining the possibilities of pictorial space. Three of the movement’s leading artists—Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and Juan Gris—began to incorporate items such as newspaper, wallpaper, and other commercially printed and found objects into their Cubist works.

At the time, this shocking combination of ‘real’ things into works of art further challenged ideas about illusionistic rendering and what materials might be considered appropriate for making art.

In 1914, Gris made a series of dynamic and intriguing still-life compositions that display his mastery of the form. A virtuoso at manipulating materials, Gris made formally and technically complex works by layering his carefully selected papers—piecing together intersecting shapes, textures, patterns, and colors—and using paints, pencils, and crayons to play sophisticated visual games.

Through these unorthodox materials and techniques, Gris tested the viewer’s comprehension of space, depth, light, and shadow.

At times the spatial relationships in Gris’s collages are undecipherable, making it difficult to find a surface on which to rest the eye. They can give the sense that one is walking around and surveying the scene from all angles at once, creating a kind of simultaneity of seeing that relies on the brain to put together the disjointed and fractionalized images.

His works embrace a totality of vision, capturing both the physical and ephemeral at once—a tenet of Cubist theory.

One of the most exciting aspects of these works is the array of papers Gris used in his collages, many of which had inherent cultural connotations. These included newspapers, wallpapers, fine art papers, book pages, tracing papers, and packaging and labels for tobacco, coffee and liquor. Several of these types of paper can be seen pieced together here in Cup, Glasses, and Bottle (1914).

Many of the wallpapers found in the Cubist era were designed to mimic decorative surfaces such as wood paneling, marble, stone, and woven fabrics, as well as architectural details.

Wallpaper manufacturers imitated surfaces, exploiting aspects of the printing process to disguise the uniformity inherent in mass production to yield a “natural” appearance. These include:

Random ink puckering to imitate marble — faux marbre

Drips and ink bleeding to imitate stone or granite — granité

Patterning with many small variable marks to create a wood-grain — faux bois

Such seemingly haphazard effects help to create the illusion of marble, stone, and wood rather than betray their true materials—ink on paper.

Gris also used wallpaper patterns popular in his time, including florals and stripes, and novelty papers such as those depicting woven materials or Venetian blinds, which are visible here in The Sunblind (1914).

The use of the mixture of artists’ and non-artists’ papers adds visual and interpretative complexity. The wallpapers are a stunning addition, as Gris chose those that are made to fool the eye. He used them in ways that both gave meaning to his collages, signifying certain materials or objects, but also provided for multiple interpretations.

Gris’s collages also rely heavily on painted and drawn elements. Conté crayon was one of his favorite media. Gris rendered his still-life objects primarily with traditional shaded modeling, as seen here in Book and Glass (1914).

The drawn book is superimposed on a geometric pattern drawn with the same black conté crayon, creating a visual contradiction; the paper is flat, while at the same time the outline and shadows of the book and the manipulations of the drawn pattern create an illusion of volume.

This effect is complicated by the depiction of the pipe (above) and the printed collaged book (to the right), which appears tucked under the geometric passages.

Gris gave the collaged book a suggestion of volume by pasting together multiple pages of the text block along the lower edge.

Staccato marks of black conté crayon provide the effect of smoky shadow.

Black paint articulates deep areas void of light.

White gouache defines the light-struck areas and picks out features that reflect light.

This trio of materials in black and white is essential to Gris’s collage works and can be found in most of them.

Through his use of crayon, charcoal, and gouache, Gris showed that he was able to render volumetric forms through light and shadow, employing techniques that have been used for centuries to render illusionistic space, and heightening the tension by situating illusionistic space in otherwise flattened and disjointed work.

The Musician’s Table (1914) offers a clear demonstration of these techniques and how, with great precision and attention to detail, Gris created complex puzzles of textures and patterns.

This work alone contains six types of paper: two kinds of wallpaper, transparentized paper, newspaper, and two colors of laid paper, as well as four different applied media: conté crayon, gouache, oil paint, and blue pencil.

His treatment of newspaper shows an understanding of the material and how it interacts with others.

The corner of the newspaper intrudes into the blue field but does not overlap the laid paper. Instead, Gris cut out a space for it, accounting for the fact that otherwise the laid paper would impart its texture onto the thin newspaper.

Additionally, this passage of newspaper is not taken from a single front page but rather cleverly composed of three pieces.

Through the center, Gris seamed together two headlines nearly invisibly to invent his desired story.

He also tucked an additional page under the top sheet that sticks out along the bottom and right side.

This detail gives the illusion that the newspaper is a multipage object capable of casting shadows, which Gris rendered with black paint and conté crayon.

The bright blue paper is typical of Gris’s collages, which are bold and colorful in nature.

The pronounced text of this laid paper readily produces graduated shadows when drawn upon, an effect that is beautifully illustrated in the area where Gris drew the intricate head of the stringed instrument using conté crayon.

In the center of this composition, Gris applied a faux bois wallpaper printed in brown ink, with the grain running horizontally.

In this case, wood grain can signify a variety of items including the wooden table, the wood floor, wood paneling on the wall or even faux bois wallpaper on the walls. Threads of ambiguity like this are left in many areas.

The pieces are masterfully cut, likely with a straight edge. This creates smooth surfaces that can at times appear seamless, allowing shapes, patters, and colors to blend in novel ways.

As in most of his collages, Gris used black media at the intersections of the various papers in order to disguise the junctures and create the illusion of seamlessness.

In several places, Gris made a change or correction by adhering a patch of the brown-printed paper to the surface with an incredible amount of care. If it’s difficult to find where he did so, it’s because he lined up the pattern to make the seams almost invisible.

This technique is akin to the methods used to create the illusion of seamlessness in wood marquetry and wallpapered rooms.

The other faux bois wallpaper in this collage has a prominent pinstripe pattern and is oriented on the diagonal.

Upon close observation of this paper, on which details of the violin are drawn, one detects the wood-grain pattern, printed in red.

It is not surprising that Gris chose this paper to form the parts of the violin, as its similarities in color and prominent striation pattern to an actual violin are remarkable.

Maker: Antonio Stradivari (Italian, 1644–1737). “The Antonius” Violin. Maple, spruce, ebony, 23 × 8 in. (58.4 × 20.3 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Bequest of Annie Bolton Matthews Bryant, 1933 (34.86.1a)

The pattern may be difficult to discern because it’s been obscured by both the darkening of the paper and the fading of the ink. This is an important consideration when looking at Gris’s collages or any work of art, particularly those with paper components.

Over time, the environment a work is kept in and the inherent characteristics of its materials can change its appearance. In Flowers (1914), for example, what were once vivid roses are now almost difficult to discern and the newspapers have darkened significantly.

Juan Gris (Spanish, 1887–1927). Flowers, 1914. Conté crayon, gouache, oil, wax crayon, cut-and-pasted printed wallpapers, printed wove paper, newspaper, white laid and wove papers on canvas; subsequently mounted on a honeycomb panel, 22 × 18 in. (55 × 46 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection, Gift of Leonard A. Lauder, 2021 (2021.395.3)

The degree of change is caused by many factors and can result in the works having fewer bright colors and less contrast overall, suggesting that Gris’s collages originally may have had the bright chromatic range seen in his paintings.

Juan Gris (Spanish, 1887–1927). Pears and Grapes on a Table, 1913. Oil on canvas, 21 × 29 in. (55 × 73 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Promised Gift from the Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection

Gris also created a clever and beautiful solution for depicting glass in his works.

In The Musician’s Table, he placed a layer of transparentized paper, somewhat like wax or tracing paper, on the forms of the bottles and drinking glasses. This paper is a simulacrum for glass, mimicking its ability to reflect light and transmit images. He has captured the visual essence of liquid and glass in both smooth bottles and faceted glassware.

For the central glass, he laid the transparentized paper over the wallpaper and the white laid paper, and then enhanced its forms with small strokes of white and gray paint and black conté crayon.

The glass at the top is made from a piece of the brown-printed faux bois wallpaper with the grain oriented diagonally. The change in grain orientation and the color modulation caused by the transparentized paper simulate the shifts in the way we perceive glass objects as light moves through them.

The bottle on the left side of the composition is also defined by a piece of the transparentized paper. Beneath this layer the liquid is articulated with white laid paper while the empty part of the bottle is signified by allowing the blue laid paper to show through.

In any such bottle, light reflecting off the surface of the liquid within can produce a circle or oval that appears opaque. Gris simulates this effect of liquid and air meeting by defining an oval on the white laid paper with a green-blue wax crayon.

 Drawn elements in black, white, and blue-green often form the color scheme in Gris’s depictions of glass.

He was able to give solidity to intangible entities such as light and shadow by imbuing them with the form and weight of paper and opaque media, fulfilling his goal to “try to make concrete that which is abstract.” (L’Esprit Nouveau, no. 5)

Gris understood the full effect of mixing flat, patterned papers with volumetric elements, and he exploited his materials to achieve maximum ambiguity.

The complexity and precision of Gris’s collages distinguish them from the works of his fellow Cubists. Bottle of Rosé Wine (1914) illustrates how the abutting, intersecting, and overlapping papers and media in his works create dynamic, abstract compositions that include traditionally rendered objects, but are difficult to reconcile spatially.

His smooth surfaces composed of various paper types, patterns, and textures are akin to traditional trompe l’oeil paintings in their meticulous attention to detail, but they also display the modern sensibility of a photomontage, in which an uninterrupted surface unifies disconnected entities.

Gris’s intricate visual games explore the nature and limits of human perception. Extending a tradition that artists have participated in for thousands of years, these clever renditions fool the eye and challenge viewers to delight in discovery.

His collages simultaneously mimic reality and flaunt their fakeness, exemplifying the contradictions and tensions that were essential to Modernism’s break with the past. Through his masterful combination of high-end artists’ materials with manufactured products, Gris created rich and indisputably modern works of art.

Credits

Juan Gris (Spanish, 1887–1927). Cup, Glasses, and Bottle (Le Journal). Conté crayon, gouache, oil, cut-and-pasted newspaper, white laid paper, printed wallpaper (three types), selectively varnished; adhered overall onto a sheet of newspaper, mounted to primed canvas, 22 × 18 in. (55 × 46 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection, Gift of Leonard A. Lauder, 2021 (2021.395.4)

Juan Gris (Spanish, 1887–1927). The Sunblind, 1914. Gouache, paper, chalk and charcoal on canvas, 36 × 29 in. (92 × 72 cm). Tate, London. (N05747)

Juan Gris (Spanish, 1887–1927). Book and Glass. Conté crayon, charcoal, wax crayon, watercolor, gouache, oil, cut-and-pasted printed and selectively varnished wallpaper, blue and white laid papers, transparentized paper, and printed white wove papers; adhered overall onto a sheet of torn newspaper, 25 x 19 in. (65 x 50 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection, Gift of Leonard A. Lauder, 2021 (2021.395.6)

Juan Gris (Spanish, 1887–1927). The Musician’s Table, 1914. Conté crayon, wax crayon, gouache, cut-and-pasted printed wallpaper, blue and white laid papers, transparentized paper, newspaper, and brown wrapping paper; selectively varnished on canvas, 31 × 24 in. (80 × 60 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection, Purchase, Leonard A. Lauder Gift, in celebration of the Museum’s 150th Anniversary, 2018 (2018.216)

Maker: Antonio Stradivari (Italian, 1644–1737). “The Antonius” Violin. Maple, spruce, ebony, 23 × 8 in. (58.4 × 20.3 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Bequest of Annie Bolton Matthews Bryant, 1933 (34.86.1a)

Juan Gris (Spanish, 1887–1927). Flowers, 1914. Conté crayon, gouache, oil, wax crayon, cut-and-pasted printed wallpapers, printed wove paper, newspaper, white laid and wove papers on canvas; subsequently mounted on a honeycomb panel, 22 × 18 in. (55 × 46 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection, Gift of Leonard A. Lauder, 2021 (2021.395.3)

Juan Gris (Spanish, 1887–1927). Pears and Grapes on a Table, 1913. Oil on canvas, 21 × 29 in. (55 × 73 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Promised Gift from the Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection

Juan Gris (Spanish, 1887–1927). Bottle of Rosé Wine, 1914. Cut-and-pasted printed wallpapers, laid and wove papers, printed packaging, conté crayon, gouache, oil, watercolor, newspaper, and wax crayon, selectively varnished, on newspaper mounted on canvas, 18 × 15 in. (46 × 38 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection, Gift of Leonard A. Lauder, 2021 (2021.395.5)