Bottle, Glass, and Newspaper

Georges Braque

Paris, early 1914 · Charcoal and cut-and-pasted newspaper and printed wallpaper on gessoed paperboard (commercial board from mirror backing) · Modern and Contemporary Art

In a witty version of a “mirror image,” Braque took the oval backing board off a looking glass, covered it with white gesso, and turned the vertical format to a horizontal one to emphasize the tabletop effect. The two pieces of differently grained faux bois stand for the respective wood planes of wall and table, reinforcing oscillating viewpoints, while the latter displays the daily news: two actual pages and hand-drawn letters that refer to the newspaper Le Journal. He placed an ad for Motobloc automobiles (suggesting the male “drive”) next to one publicizing L’amour obligatoire (Mandatory love), a handbook on women’s “proper” sexual comportment, and conjoined them with a wineglass amusingly split into positive and negative forms.

Artist

Georges Braque

Date

Paris, early 1914

Medium

Charcoal and cut-and-pasted newspaper and printed wallpaper on gessoed paperboard (commercial board from mirror backing)

Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Credit line

Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection, Gift of Leonard A. Lauder, 2016