'The Cubist's Cubist:' Juan Gris honored with Google doodle
Juan Gris, born Jos茅 Victoriano Carmelo Carlos Gonz谩lez-P茅rez, is honored with today鈥檚 Google doodle on the 125th anniversary of his birth in Madrid, Spain. The doodle highlights his work in the Cubist art movement, and though his name is not as widely known as other cubists like Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, some say Mr. Gris is a Cubist in its purist form.
鈥淕ris - as can be seen in a drawing like 鈥楽till Life: Teapot and Glass鈥� - carried the idea of the Cubists to a level of completeness and finish they hadn't originally attempted,鈥� the Monitor reported in 1988, noting that Cubist trailblazers like Picasso and Braque may have delighted in the complexity Gris brought to his work.
Gris鈥檚 elementary level of art training upon his arrival in France in 1906 meant he did not have to go through the process of 鈥渦nlearning鈥� a more classic technique, reports TIME magazine, who referred to Gris as 鈥淭he Cubist鈥檚 Cubist鈥� in a 1956 article. Instead, Gris was able to . In fact, he was so usurped in the cubist approach that after finally trying his hand at a more traditional portrait he reportedly wrote a friend saying he always believed classical technique would be far more difficult, according to TIME.
Gris said he never consciously became a Cubist. In response to a 1925 questionnaire by the French Bulletin of the Arts, published in the book Theories of Modern Art, he said 鈥渂y dint of working along certain lines, [I was] classed as such. I have who has meditated on it before adopting it,鈥� said Gris.
Today鈥檚 doodle incorporates a number of Gris鈥檚 art work, including 鈥淭he Book of Music,鈥� 鈥淰iolen and Glass 1,鈥� 鈥淏ol et Livre,鈥� and 鈥淕uitar with Clarinet.鈥澛� The doodle art 鈥淸resonates] with harmonious hues, , [and] interlocking tone and pattern,鈥� writes the Washington Post.
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