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The Pink Tablecloth

Artist Georges Braque (French, 1882-1963)

CultureFrench

Date1933

MediumOil and sand on canvas

Dimensions38 1/4 x 51 1/4 in. (97.2 x 130.2 cm)
Overall, Frame: 50 x 63 x 4 1/2 in. (127 x 160 x 11.4 cm)

InscribedSigned lower right: G. Braque

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.624

Collections

European Art before 1945

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 219

Label TextGeorges Braque French, 1882–1963 The Pink Tablecloth, 1933 Oil and sand on canvas Let us forget things and consider only the relationships between them. —Georges Braque In subjects like this still life, Georges Braque sought what he described as “that particular temperature at which objects become malleable” and begin to mimic and merge with one another, revealing their inherent harmonies. A mature Cubist work, The Pink Tablecloth creates such a poetic mood not only through its playful palette of pink, purple, and red, but also through a sequence of visual “rhymes.” For example, the large, meandering line in the right foreground is echoed in miniature in the snaky decoration on the goblet, and the toothy pattern of the tablecloth’s zigzagging edge is repeated on the wall behind. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.624 ProvenanceValentine Galleries, New York, by 1936; Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.; Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, 1971. Exhibition History"French Paintings from The Chrysler Museum", North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC, May 31 - September 14, 1986; Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL, November 6, 1986 - January 18, 1987. "Georges Braque," Musée du Havre, March 17 - June 21, 1999. "Georges Braque and the Cubist Still Life, 1928-1945," The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC, June 8 - September 1, 2013. "Collection Conversations: Fractured Lens: Picasso, Braque, and Cubism’s Influence," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, October 14, 2014 - February 22, 2015.Published ReferencesJefferson C. Harrison. _French Paintings from the Chrysler Museum_. Norfolk, VA: The Chrysler Museum, 1986, No. 44, pp. 89-91, 138; Color plate No. 44, p. 138. Jefferson C. Harrison. _The Chrysler Museum Handbook of the European and American Collections: Selected Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings_. Norfolk, VA: The Chrysler Museum, 1991, pp. 184-5; Color Plate No. 139, p. 185. Françoise Cohen, _Georges Braque l'Espace_, exh. cat., Musée Malraux, Le Havre, Paris, France, 1999, 67. Jeff Harrison, _Collecting with Vision: Treasures From the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007), 54, fig. 54. Dieter Buchhart, _Georges Braque: Pioneer of Modernism_, exh. cat., Acquavella Galleries, New York, 2011, 22. Karen K. Butler and Renée Maurer, _Georges Braque and the Cubist Still Life, 1928-1945_, exh. cat., New York: DelMonico Books with Prestel, 2013, plate 14. Rex Weil, "Georges Braque and the Cubist Still Life, 1928-1945," _ARTnews_ (September 2013) 104.