Label:
This is one of the last paintings that Juan Gris made before his death from uremia on May 11, 1927. He was forty years old and, as this painting attests, at the height of his creative powers, having developed his own, highly refined and poetic version of Cubism over the previous two decades. Picasso was the chief mourner at his funeral and was greatly upset at the tragic early death of his fellow countryman, whose work he had unfairly criticized during his lifetime. Knife reveals the Spanish artist's innate talent for creating still-life compositions featuring sharply angled, interlocking elements and tonal contrasts to suggest the fall of light.

Provenance

With Galerie Simon, Paris (no. 9697); with Galerie Jeanne Bucher, Paris, as of 1928 [1]; Mme Baudin, Nantes, by 1933; sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris June 23, 1933, lot 54 (illus.); purchased by A. E. Gallatin, New York [2]; bequest to PMA, 1952. 1. A reproduction of the painting is featured in an advertisement for the Galerie Jeanne Bucher, Cahiers d'Art, 1928, nos. 5-6, between pages 180-181. 2. Annotated copy of sale catalog in Frick Art Reference Library indicates Gallatin as buyer.