''Fruit and a Jug on a Table'' (also titled ''Melon et compotier'') is a

Cubist Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

painting dated 1916 by the French artist and theorist

Jean Metzinger Jean Dominique Antony Metzinger (; 24 June 1883 – 3 November 1956) was a major 20th-century French painter, theorist, writer, critic and poet, who along with Albert Gleizes wrote the first theoretical work on Cubism. His earliest works, from 1 ...

. In 1919 the painting was exhibited in Paris at Léonce Rosenberg's, Galerie de l'Effort Moderne. The painting was reproduced in the June 1924 (n. 6) issue of ''Bulletin de l'Effort Moderne''. The work is on view at Charlotte F. and Irving W. Rabb Gallery (Europe, 1900–1960, Modernism), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
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Description

''Fruit and a Jug on a Table'' is an oil and sand on canvas, signed ''JMetzinger'', lower left, and inscribed on the reverse; ''Peint par moi / en 1916 / Metzinger''.Joann Moser, ''Jean Metzinger in Retrospect'', with Daniel Robbins, The University of Iowa Museum of Art, J. Paul Getty Trust, University of Washington Press, 1985 The work represents a diverse grouping of objects—a bowl of fruit, a carafe (or jug), a glass, and a bottle labelled ''BANYU''.

Banyuls-sur-Mer Banyuls-sur-Mer (; ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. It was first settled by Greeks starting in 400 BCE. Geography Location Banyuls-sur-Mer is located in the canton of La Côte Vermeille and in the ar ...

is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France, located near

Cerbère Cerbère (; ca, Cervera de la Marenda) is a commune and railway town in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France.Collioure Collioure (; ca, Cotlliure, ) is a commune in the southern French department of Pyrénées-Orientales. Geography The town of Collioure is on the Côte Vermeille (Vermilion Coast), in the canton of La Côte Vermeille and in the arrondissement ...

. The foothills of

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to ...

run into the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

in Banyuls-sur-Mer, creating a steep cliff line.

is known for its wines, such as the sweet wine

Banyuls Banyuls-sur-Mer (; ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. It was first settled by Greeks starting in 400 BCE. Geography Location Banyuls-sur-Mer is located in the canton of La Côte Vermeille and in the a ...

: a

fortified A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

apéritif or dessert wine made from old vines cultivated in terraces on the slopes of the French and Catalan Pyrenees. The style of ''Fruit and a Jug on a Table'', its colors, the placement of objects and the background textures differ from Metzinger's earlier Crystal Cubist style of 1914–1916. According to Joann Moser, this work was most likely executed around 1917 or 1918. From 1914 through 1916 Metzinger's work was more abstract, overlapping volumetric forms were replaced with flattened surfaces, such as circles, squares, and rectangles. ''Fruit and a Jug on a Table'' represent a more naturalistic approach expressed by the artist after 1917. Temporal and spatial effects are more subdued. The multiple perspective and

Riemannian geometry Riemannian geometry is the branch of differential geometry that studies Riemannian manifolds, smooth manifolds with a ''Riemannian metric'', i.e. with an inner product on the tangent space at each point that varies smoothly from point to point ...

seen in his 1910–1912 works is no longer to be seen overtly, yet the perspective reminiscent of

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically d ...

—the angle of the table and the still life elements on it—are unmistakably active, still. Decorative patterns likewise present, and surface impasto, visibly thicker and more ubiquitously prevalent than previous years, are typical of Metzinger's 1917–18 works.

Provenance

In April 1919, the painting was with Léonce Rosenberg, Galerie de l'Effort Moderne, Paris. There is a partial label dated April 1919 on the verso from Galerie de l'Effort Moderne. Metzinger had a solo exhibit at Léonce Rosenberg's l'Effort moderne gallery in January 1919. Metzinger's show was followed by exhibitions by Fernand Léger (February), Georges Braque (March),

Juan Gris José Victoriano González-Pérez (23 March 1887 – 11 May 1927), better known as Juan Gris (; ), was a Spanish painter born in Madrid who lived and worked in France for most of his active period. Closely connected to the innovative artistic ge ...

(April),

Gino Severini Gino Severini (7 April 1883 – 26 February 1966) was an Italian painter and a leading member of the Futurist movement. For much of his life he divided his time between Paris and Rome. He was associated with neo-classicism and the "return to orde ...

(May),

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

(June),

Henri Hayden Henri Hayden, born Henryk Hayden (December 24, 1883 – May 12, 1970), was a Polish painter. Born in Warsaw, Hayden lived and worked in Paris. Hayden studied engineering at the Warsaw Polytechnic from 1902 to 1905, while simultaneously pursuing st ...

(December 1919),

Jacques Lipchitz Jacques Lipchitz (26 May 1973) was a Cubist sculptor. Lipchitz retained highly figurative and legible components in his work leading up to 1915–16, after which naturalist and descriptive elements were muted, dominated by a synthetic style of ...

(January – February 1920), along with several group shows in which Metzinger participated, such as ''Les Maitres du Cubisme'' 3 May – 30 October 1920; an exhibit by the same name May 1921; ''Du cubisme à une renaissance plastique'', 1922, and another solo exhibition 16 April – 10 May 1928. The painting was reproduced in the June 1924 (n. 6) issue of ''Bulletin de l'Effort Moderne''. In 1955, ''Fruit and a Jug on a Table'' appeared in a public auction in Paris, and was purchased by

Marlborough Fine Art Marlborough Fine Art was founded in London in 1946 by Frank Lloyd and Harry Fischer. In 1963, a gallery was opened as Marlborough-Gerson in Manhattan, New York, at the Fuller Building on Madison Avenue and 57th Street, which later relocated i ...

, Ltd., London. In 1957, the painting was purchased from the Marlborough gallery by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, for £1,200.

Published 1920

''Fruit and a Jug on a Table'' was reproduced in Paul Erich Küppers, ''Der Kubismus; ein künstlerisches Formproblem unserer Zeit'', 1920. The painting was titled ''Stilleben'' and dated 1917.Der Kubismus; ein künstlerisches Formproblem unserer Zeit, 1920. Read online
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Notes and references

External links

Jean Metzinger Catalogue Raisonné entry page for ''Fruit and a Jug on a Table''

Ministère de la Culture, Plateforme Ouverte du Patrimoine (POP)

Agence Photographique de la Réunion des musées nationaux et du Grand Palais des Champs-Elysées
{{Cubism Paintings by Jean Metzinger 1916 paintings 1918 paintings Still life paintings Food and drink paintings

Description

Provenance

Published 1920

See also

Notes and references

External links