Juan Gris

Juan Gris ( born March 23, 1887 in Madrid, † May 11, 1927 in Boulogne -sur -Seine, France; actually José Victoriano Carmelo Carlos González- Pérez ) was a Spanish painter.

In addition to Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, he is the chief representative of Synthetic Cubism. Gris painted mostly still lifes, in which he as a collage next to and above each set picture elements. Gris added the new design principles of cubism into a rational system and was time endeavor of his work to convey his artistic approach and theoretically.

Life and work

Juan Gris, son of a wealthy businessman, was born on 23 March 1887 as José Victoriano González Pérez in Madrid. He was the thirteenth of fourteen children. Already in his first years of life taught him the uncle in the art of painting. In 1902 he began his studies at the art school " Escuela de Artes y Manufacturas " in Madrid, before 1904, the study ended and an artist trained by his close friend José Moreno Carbonero, who later became a teacher of Salvador Dalí was started. Already at this time he painted some pictures that were based on Art Nouveau. His living he earned with book illustrations for poems by José Santos Chocanos. His works he signed with the pseudonym " Juan Gris".

1906 left Juan Gris at the age of 19 years, Spain and moved to Paris. There he talked with cartoons for satirical magazines afloat, Two years later he moved into the Bateau - Lavoir. The studios of the Bateau - Lavoir at that time were a rallying point for many young painters and writers. Gris where they met Pablo Picasso, inspired by his studies, he turned again to painting.

Gris focused from now on the analytical cubism. In 1911 he created his first works, among other houses in Paris, the first cubist trains have. His first exhibition with 15 works he had at Clovis Sagot. In the same year joined Gris friendship with the German art dealer Daniel -Henry Kahnweiler, the Gris took them under contract and thus guaranteeing him exhibit space for his works of art in museums and exhibitions. 1912 Gris painted a portrait of Pablo Picasso.

1913 began Gris ' period of synthetic cubism. From the analysis of the work of Picasso and Braque 's first synthetic works were created. Elements such as newsprint, wallpaper and shards he added in his works. Following the example of Braque and Picasso, he made ​​his first " paper collés ", an early form of the Collage system. In 1914 Gris met during a stay in South of France for the first time to the painter, sculptor and graphic artist Henri Matisse, who influenced his painting technique strong and refined. Since that time, Gris took her own pictorial language in his language seems strengthened. Amedeo Modigliani created in 1915 a portrait of Gris.

Looking back on his beginnings expressed the theorist Gris in his 1925 essay published in Bulletin Chez les cubistes de la Vie Artistique:

" Cubism? [ ... ] Today, I am aware that Cubism at its beginning there was nothing but a new way of the world to play [ ... ] I mean, that Cubism at the beginning of the analysis was that had no more to do with painting as the description of physical phenomena with physics. But now that all elements of the so-called Cubist aesthetics a measure is given by the painting technique, [ ... ] you can not make it this allegation. If that's what it was called Cubism, only a certain aspect was so Cubism has disappeared, if it is an aesthetic that he has united with the painting. "

In 1916, Gris began ' architectural phase in which he put more emphasis on his paintings to shapes than the colors. By the year following it acquaintance with the French sculptor Jacques Lipchitz, Gris began alongside his painting with the forms of sculptures.

From the 1920s Gris ' style was poetic. He brought still lifes and landscapes together in an image plane. He is now often used a waveform that will be visible for example in his Pierrot and Harlequin representations for the outline design.

Gris now also worked frequently for the theater and created, among other costumes and decorations for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and for Charles Gounod's opera La Colombe. He was also in demand as a book illustrator.

1925 ill Juan Gris difficult, his condition deteriorated rapidly. Nevertheless, he survived a few more months before the age of forty he died in Paris on May 11, 1927 uremia.

Some of his works have been exhibited posthumously at the documenta 1 (1955), Documenta II (1959) and the documenta III in Kassel in 1964.

Juan Gris was admitted to the Paris Masonic Lodge Voltaire into the waistband of the Freemasons.

Works (selection)

• Houses in Paris ( Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York ), 1911
• Still Life with Carafe (privately owned Dr. Speiser, Basel ), 1912
• Still Life with a Guitar ( Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York ), 1913
• The smoker (Museo Thyssen- Bornemisza, Madrid ), 1913
• The teacups (K20 Art Collection North Rhine -Westphalia, Dusseldorf ), 1914
• The breakfast ( Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris ), 1915