Braque depicted violins more than any other instrument. The violin was associated with both classical and folk music, the refined and the sentimental, a bridging of tastes that appealed to the Cubists’ own spirited dialogue with high art and popular culture. Here, a single violin is shown from multiple viewpoints, with selected details of the black tailpiece, tuning pegs, and scroll. Braque’s skill at using metal combs to create distinct wood grains was developed in his youth while training as a painter-decorator, his father’s profession. This still life is unique in Braque’s oeuvre because of its trompe l’oeil representation of sheet music.
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Inscription: Signed (verso, center): G Braque [now concealed by relining; visible in infrared transmitted light]
[Galerie Kahnweiler, Paris, before June 1913–14; inv. no. 1348, photo no. 1101, valued at Fr 800; sequestered Kahnweiler stock, December 12, 1914–21; second Kahnweiler sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, November 17, 1921, no. 28, as "Violon et chanson," sold for Fr 800, to Splitz]; Monsieur Splitz (1921); Jean Coutrot, Paris; [Jacques Seligmann & Co., Inc., New York, before 1935; sold by 1935 to Mary (Meric) Callery]; Mary (Meric) Callery, New York (by 1935–49; sold on September 25, 1949 through Buchholz Gallery [Curt Valentin], New York, for $5,000, to Hillman); Alex and Rita K. Hillman, New York (1949–his d. 1968); Rita K. Hillman, New York (1968–d. 2007; on loan to the MMA, May 18–August 10, 1979, and April 24–September 24, 1981; her estate, 2007–8; sold in April 2008 to Lauder); Leonard A. Lauder, New York (from 2008)
New York. Buchholz Gallery. "Cubism: Braque, Gris, Laurens, Léger, Lipchitz, Picasso," April 5–30, 1949, no. 4 (as "Violin and Guitar").
New York. Perls Galleries. "Picasso-Braque-Gris: Cubism to 1918," January 4–February 6, 1954, no. 14 (as "Violon et guitare").
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Impressionist and Modern Paintings from Private Collections: Summer Loan Exhibition," July 11–end of summer, 1957, no catalogue.
New York. Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. "Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York Exhibition," October 28–November 1, 1957 [possibly this picture].
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paintings from Private Collections: Summer Loan Exhibition," July 12–September 2, 1963, checklist no. 88 (as "Violin and Guitar," lent by Mr. and Mrs. Alex Hillman).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Summer Loan 1971: Paintings from New York Collections. Collection of Mrs. Alex Hillman and The Alex Hillman Family Foundation," July 13–September 7, 1971, no. 1.
London. Tate Gallery. "The Essential Cubism, 1907–1920: Braque, Picasso & their friends," April 27–July 10, 1983, extended to July 31, 1983, no. 28 (as "Violin and Sheet-music on a Table [Petit Oiseau]").
New York. Mitchell-Innes & Nash. "Georges Braque," February 16–March 27, 1999, no. 3.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Cubism: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection," October 20, 2014–February 16, 2015, no. 11.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Cubism and the Trompe l'Oeil Tradition," October 17, 2022–January 22, 2023, unnumbered cat. (pl. 18).
Waldemar George. "Georges Braque." L'Esprit Nouveau no. 6 (1921), ill. p. 645, as "Violon".
"Échos de l'Hôtel Drouot. Liste Complète des prix atteints à la deuxième vente Kahnweiler." L'Esprit Nouveau: Revue internationale illustrée de l'activité contemporaine 15 (1921), p. 1824, as "Violon et Chanson".
George Isarlov. Georges Braque. Paris, 1932, p. 18, no. 153, as "Violon".
Cubism: Braque, Gris, Laurens, Léger, Lipchitz, Picasso. Exh. cat., Buchholz Gallery. New York, 1949, unpaginated, no. 4.
Picasso, Braque, Gris: Cubism to 1918. Exh. cat., Perls Galleries. New York, 1954, unpaginated, no. 14.
Paintings from Private Collections: Summer Loan Exhibition, 1963, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1963, p. 9, no. 88.
Summer Loan 1971: Paintings from New York Collections . . . Collection of Mrs. Alex Hillman and the Alex Hillman Family Foundation. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1971, p. 1, no. 1.
Marco Valsecchi and Massimo Carrà. L'opera completa di Braque dalla scomposizione cubista al recupero dell'oggetto, 1908–1929. Milan, 1971, p. 92, no. 112, ill. p. 91, as "Violino".
Pierre Descargues and Massimo Carrà. Tout l'oeuvre peint de Braque, 1908–1929. Paris, 1973, p. 92, no. 112, ill. p. 91, as "Violon".
Malcolm Gee. Dealers, Critics, and Collectors of Modern Painting: Aspects of the Parisian Art Market Between 1910 and 1930. PhD diss., Courtauld Institute of Art. New York, 1981, appendix F, p. 55, no. 104, as "Violon et chanson".
Nicole Worms de Romilly and Jean Laude. [Catalogue de l'œuvre de Georges Braque]. Vol. [1], Le Cubisme, fin 1907–1914. [Paris], 1982, p. 281, no. 175, ill. p. 193.
Douglas Cooper and Gary Tinterow. The Essential Cubism: Braque, Picasso & their friends, 1907–1920. Exh. cat., Tate Gallery. London, 1983, p. 90, no. 28, ill. p. 91.
Emily Braun. Manet to Matisse: The Hillman Family Collection. New York, 1994, p. 36, no. 2, ill. p. 37 and ill. p. 26 (on display in the residence of Alex and Rita K. Hillman, New York, 1976), as "Violin and Sheet Music on a Table (Petit Oiseau) (Violon et partition [Petit Oiseau]").
Georges Braque. Exh. cat., Mitchell-Innes & Nash. New York, 1999, unpaginated, no. 3, ill.
Property from the Hillman Family Collection. Christie's, New York. November 5, 2008, ill. p. 15 (on display in the residence of Alex and Rita K. Hillman, New York).
John Richardson. "Cubism Steals the Show." Vanity Fair 55, no. 6 (June 2013), ill. p. 109 (on display in the Sherman Fairchild Paintings Conservation Center, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), as "Violin and Guitar".
"Objects Promised to the Museum during the Year 2012–2013." The Metropolitan Museum of Art, One Hundred Forty-third Annual Report of the Trustees for the Fiscal Year July 1, 2012, through June 30, 2013 (2013), p. 45, as "Violin and Guitar [Violin (sic) et guitare (Petit Oiseau)]".
Lewis Kachur inCubism: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection. Ed. Emily Braun and Rebecca Rabinow. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2014, pp. 77, 81–83, 307(1)n.23, no. 11, ill. p. 82 (color).
Anna Jozefacka and Luise Mahler inCubism: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection. Ed. Emily Braun and Rebecca Rabinow. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2014, pp. 251–52, figs. 11A (installation photo, Exh. New York 1957), 11B (on display in the residence of Alex and Rita K. Hillman, New York, 1976).
Emily Braun and Leonard A. Lauder inCubism: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection. Ed. Emily Braun and Rebecca Rabinow. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2014, pp. 16–18.
"The Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection: A Conversation with Emily Braun and Pepe Karmel." IFAR Journal 16, no. 3 (2015), p. 46, figs. 2 (color, on display in the living room of the Lauder residence, New York, 2014) and 22 (color).
Emily Braun. "Shadows, Shading, and Shades." The Cubism Seminars. Ed. Harry Cooper. Washington, D.C., 2017, p. 27, fig.13 (color), and frontispiece (color).
Elizabeth Cowling in Emily Braun and Elizabeth Cowling. Cubism and the Trompe l’Oeil Tradition. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2022, pp. 112, 243, 259 n.5, colorpl. 18.
Leonard A. Lauder discusses his appreciation of the Cubist works of art he has collected. Leonard A. Lauder answers the question: "Which is your favorite picture?"
The ninth-annual Women and the Critical Eye program featuring a conversation between Emily Braun and Rebecca Rabinow, who discuss Leonard Lauder's criteria for collecting, including the importance of the "aesthetic wow," rarity, state of conservation, and attention to a work's curriculum vitae.
The Met's engagement with art from 1890 to today includes the acquisition and exhibition of works in a range of media, spanning movements in modernism to contemporary practices from across the globe.
