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Juan Gris was born Jose Victoriano  Gonzalez in the year 1887 in Madrid. He began his education as an engineer, but switched to art, studying with Jose Maria Carbonero. He was first influenced by Art Nouveau and in 1906 went to Paris where he soon associated himself with the Cubist movement, a style ih which he found himself, and one to which he clung throughout his short life. Figure studies and an occasional landscape appear in his work, but the ever-changing play of light and planes in still life studies fascinated him and dominated his entire oeuvre.

Gris died May 11, 1927 at the age of 40.   Source: Bulletin, September 1960.


Exhibition History"Selected Cowles Family Gifts to the Permanent Collection," Des Moines Art Center, July 30 - Sept. 11, 1994

"Highlights From Three Collections: The Bohen, Coffin and Cowles Collections," Des Moines Art Center, July 8 - Sept. 11, 1983

"Opening of the New Wing," Des Moines Art Center, Oct. 4 - Nov. 5, 1968

"Ways to Look," Des Moines Art Center, Aug. 19 - Sept. 26, 1960

"Collectors - Their Faces - Their Favorites," Fine Arts Associates, Otto M. Gerson Gallery, New York, 1958

"Contemporary Spanish Paintings," An Exhibition for the Benefit of the Scholarship Fund of the Department of Spanish, Barnard College, Schaefer Galleries, New York, Jan. 20 - Feb. 6, 1953

Bucholz Gallery, New York, Jan. - Feb. 1950
Published ReferencesBuckholz Gallery (Curt Valentin, Jan - Feb. 1950, no 31)

"Contemporary Spanish Paintings," Barnard College, Schaefer Galleries, NY, 1953, exh. cat. no.17

"Collectors - Their Faces - Their Favorites," Fine Arts Associates, Otto M. Gerson Gallery, N. Y., 1958, exh. cat. no.2, ill.

DES MOINES ART CENTER: SELECTED PAINTINGS, SCULPTURES AND WORKS ON PAPER, Des Moines Art Center, 1985, ref. p.78
DimensionsOverall: 12 1/2 × 15 in. (31.8 × 38.1 cm)
Accession Number 1958.73
Classificationspainting
CopyrightPublic Domain
SignedJuan Gris '26 (l,r oil paint)
ProvenanceArtist; (Galerie Simon, Paris [received from previous for sale to Juan Larrea, November 2, 1926]); Juan Larrea, Cordoba, Argentina (purchased from previous, 1926]; John and Elizabeth Bates Cowles [purchased from previous, April 24, 1956]; Des Moines Art Center [gifted from previous, 1958]
Les Pommes (The Apples)
Photo Credit: Richard Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Richard Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Winslow Homer
August 1868
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Honoré Daumier
ca. 1863
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Juan Muñoz
1996
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Juan Logan
1995
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Isabel Bishop
1963
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Ralph Albert Blakelock
date unknown
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Ida Sedgwick Proper
date unknown
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
William Charles Palmer
1931
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Theodoros Stamos
1949