Fruit and a Jug on a Table

Jean Metzinger (French, 1883–1956)

1916

Country of Origin, for CustomsFrance

Medium/TechniqueOil and sand on canvas

Dimensions115.9 x 81 cm (45 5/8 x 31 7/8 in.)
Framed: 148 x 113 x 7 cm (58 1/4 x 44 1/2 x 2 3/4 in.)

Credit LineFanny P. Mason Fund in memory of Alice Thevin

Accession number57.3

On View

Not on view

ClassificationsPaintings

Collections

Europe

Description

Metzinger was an early adopter of Cubism. Less radical than Picasso and Braque, he tempered geometric abstraction in his pictures with a stylish art-deco design sensibility. The objects he depicted tend to retain recognizable forms, as we see here in the rounded fruits, the liquor bottle with its legible label, the wineglass and pitcher. His paintings quickly found an appreciative audience in Paris and were widely collected in the 1920s and 1930s.

InscriptionsLower left: Metzinger Reverse: Peint par moi / en 1916 / Metzinger

ProvenanceApril 1919, with Léonce Rosenberg (b. 1877 - d. 1947), Galerie de l'Effort Moderne, Paris [see note 1]. By 1955, art market, Paris; by 1955, sold by an unknown dealer, Paris, to Marlborough Fine Art, Ltd., London [see note 2 ]; 1957, sold by Marlborough Fine Art to the MFA for £1,200. (Accession Date: January 10, 1957)

NOTES:
[1] A fragmentary label on the reverse, dated April 1919, bears the name of Léonce Rosenberg and the Galerie de l'Effort Moderne, which Rosenberg founded in 1918. A collector of contemporary French art, Rosenberg had signed a contract with Metzinger in 1916: in exchange for a monthly stipend the dealer was granted the exclusive rights to Metzinger's artistic production. [2] This information comes from a letter from Marlborough Fine Art to W. G. Constable of the MFA (January 22, 1957), in the MFA curatorial file.