Guitar and Pipe (recto); Guitar (verso)

Juan Gris

1913

Oil and charcoal on canvas (recto); oil, charcoal, and wallpaper on canvas (verso)

Dallas Museum of Art

Juan Gris made significant contributions to the Cubist style established in 1910 by his friends Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. The artist painted Guitar and Pipe in 1913, a pivotal year in his artistic development. In addition to adopting a more colorful palette, Gris developed an innovative system of overlapping strips, or bands, to structure his compositions. These bands, which offer shifting viewpoints of a greatly simplified guitar, pipe, and drinking glasses, are interspersed with flat patches of color and contrasting tonal passages. This collage-like appearance was undoubtedly inspired by the collage and papier collé (paste