Nature morte

Inscriptions: Signed (lower left)

Provenance: Possibly: Svensk-Franska Konstgalleriet, Hjalmar Gabrielsons, Hanna and Georg Paulis, and Other Collections, 5 and 6 November 1942, lot 36.

Mr. and Mrs. Philippe Marette, MD.

Blanchet & Associés, Drouot Richelieu, Paris, 18 October 2013, lot 46.

Exhibitions: Possibly: Konstakademien, Stockholm, 1928

Literature: Metzinger – Gleizes, du cubisme et après, Musée de la Poste, Paris, Musée de Lodève ; May 2012 – November 2013, reproduced in the catalogue p. 64

Notes: A non-Cubist painting on the verso of this piece represents a woman with a hat. A signed handwritten label reads Nature morte: table, poires etc. along with the word cimaise. It’s a pity the portrait of a woman has been substantially destroyed. It appears to represent the artist’s wife Lucie Soubiran (or Soubiron).

By the spring of 1909, Metzinger had already both literally and figuratively included himself as forming part of a small group of artists soon to be designated Cubists, and his work as both painter and poet reflected as much!

The Metzinger monograph Volume 1 treats this issue with great attention.