The Guitar
Juan Gris Spanish
Not on view
Twice Gris added a twist to the classic trompe l’oeil theme of a print nailed to a wall (exemplified by Correa’s adjacent painting) by incorporating a real reproductive print. In this way, a multiple—the print was from a large edition—acquired uniqueness. Gris may have picked this British engraving (by Charles Heath, based on Henry Howard’s The Swiss Peasant and published in 1831) because it reeked of passé popular taste and suggested the kind of folksy music played by the absent guitarist. The artist’s imitations of wood and marble look willfully crude, in keeping with the painting’s general air of feigned naivete.
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