Gris

Author: Chen Yingde Li MiMi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-09-01
Features: Juan Gris (Juan Gris, 1887-1927) was a painter of "Cubist Painting." Gris's painting perfectly combines the space of Cubism with the space of the Renaissance. The space in his paintings shifts from the ambiguous and multifaceted structure of Cubism to the stable and clear details of external space, as observed through the lens of traditional Renaissance-style painting. Gris was one of the Cubist painters who recognized this dual observational approach. Juan Gris (1887-1927) was born in Madrid and died by the Seine in Boulogne. Vicente Ignacio Gris, the father of Juan Gris, was from Castile, and his mother was from Andalusia. According to his sister Antonia, he showed a talent for painting at the age of six or seven. However, he attended regular schools and only later enrolled in the Madrid School of Fine Arts and Crafts. His father's bankruptcy forced him to earn a living by drawing cartoons for Madrid's humorous newspaper. Soon after, he studied painting under an elderly artist, Morera y Carnicero, and devoted himself entirely to art. He spent his days associating with writers and painters, using the pseudonym Juan Gris. During this period, the avant-garde of Spanish art was beginning to move toward a modern style under the influence of German publications. At the age of seventeen, Gris decided to move to Paris. He sold everything he had to fund his journey. Since he had never served in the military, he did not have a passport. As a result, he was later unable to leave France for any trips. He applied for French citizenship but never achieved it in his lifetime. He was drawn to Picasso's new achievements and lived in a laundromat at 13 Rue Ravignan, surviving on satirical cartoons and living in extreme hardship. However, he was primarily engaged in exploring his own art, so after four or five years of experimentation, he decided to exhibit his work and finally abandoned his livelihood. His main patron was Clovis Sagot, and the painting exhibited was the one sent to the Salon d'Automne in 1912 titled "Salute to Picasso." That same year, he exhibited his works in exhibitions in Barcelona, Rouen, and other places. Cubist painting opposes imitation, first analyzing the subject, then capturing it not on the surface of a changing object but in its continuous form, on various planes, even in cross-sections, creating a complex and yet highly expressive layering on the canvas. However, Gris's early works, especially portraits (such as those of Raymond, Picasso), were clear and balanced. Soon, the Cubists began to introduce markers taken from reality, which could be used to explain the artwork to the audience: Braque's famous work "La Pique" achieved the texture of wood and marble through realistic depiction, extensively used printed lead type, and even used real newspapers to create collages. Juan Gris, on the other hand, employed various clever methods, envisioning a deeper, more rigorous scientific theory for a truly modern painting and played a decisive role in what is known as Synthetic Cubism. In the summer of 1913, Gris stayed briefly with Picasso and Manolo in Ceret. Picasso encouraged him, while Manolo, on the other hand, engaged him in an endless theoretical debate. From this point on, he strove to make Cubism clearer, more forceful, and more undeniable. In his 1920 solo exhibition, he joined the last common front of Cubism, but not only did he fail, but he also attracted slander even from friends, yet he treated everyone with magnanimity. He anxiously observed the distortion of the meaning of the Cubist movement (its rapid development possibly destroyed by war) and resolved to make a solo effort to find a modern "great style."