A painting in tans, gray, brown and black.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

A cubist painting in tans, gray, brown and black. Centered is light tan rectangle, the end pointing to the top is a stroke of black paint. Squares, rectangles, and fill the picture space in the center rising to a single small vertical rectangle outlined in black at the top. Thick strokes of black and brown paint are roughly applied surround the central figure. Highlights of light tan and brown are irregularly spaced from the top edges across the center and down to the lower edge.

Gallery Text

By applying analytic cubism to the traditional still life, Picasso reconfigured representation to convey the atomized, fragmented, and time-based nature of perception. Here careful inspection reveals a mountain of stationery and writing implements topped by an inkwell emerging from a flickering pattern of black, brown, gray, and white brushstrokes. The exposed patches of unpainted canvas depict paper or a tabletop while providing an insistent reminder of the nature of the painting as a visually impenetrable object. Like the written words to which the paper and ink allude, the painting is a system of signs that the viewer must interpret.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1998.300
People
Pablo Ruiz Picasso, Spanish (Malaga, Spain 1881 - 1973 Mougins, France)
Title
Still Life with Inkwell
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
c. 1911-1912
Culture
Spanish
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/232805

Location

Location
Level 1, Room 1300, Modern and Contemporary Art, Early Modernism
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
33.02 x 45.72 cm (13 x 18 in.)
framed: 65.3 x 52.2 x 4.3 cm (25 11/16 x 20 9/16 x 1 11/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: on verso: Picasso (?)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[Buchholz Gallery, New York], sold; to Lois Orswell, 1949, bequest; to Harvard University Art Museums, 1998.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, The Lois Orswell Collection
Copyright
© Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Accession Year
1998
Object Number
1998.300
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Marjorie B. Cohn and Sarah Kianovsky, Lois Orswell, David Smith, and Modern Art, exh. cat., Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2002), cat. no. 187, fig. 160

Exhibition History

  • Five Modern Old Masters, Rhode Island School of Design Museum, 10/25/1950 - 11/26/1950
  • [Benefit exhibition for the Boston Arts Festival], Margaret Brown Gallery, Boston, 05/08/1956 - 05/29/1956
  • Lois Orswell, David Smith, and Modern Art, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/21/2002 - 02/16/2003
  • Re-View: S118 European & American Art since 1900, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 09/13/2008 - 04/09/2011
  • HAA 10 Survey Course (S421): The Western Tradition: Art Since the Renaissance (Fall 08 Rotation 3), Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 11/20/2008 - 02/08/2009
  • 32Q: 1300 Early Modernism, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu