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Details
- Other Titles
- Glass of absinth
Absinthe glass - Alternative title
- Le Verre d'Absinthe
- Date
- 1911
- Media category
- Painting
- Materials used
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 37.0 x 28.7 cm stretcher; 54.0 x 45.7 x 4.9 cm frame
- Signature & date
Signed c. verso canvas, oil "Braque". Not dated.
- Credit
- Purchased 1997
- Location
- South Building, ground level, 20th-century galleries
- Accession number
- 410.1997
- Copyright
- © Estate of Georges Braque/ADAGP. Copyright Agency
- Artist information
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Georges Braque
Works in the collection
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About
Cubism reached the brink of abstraction in 1911, when Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso painted together. Their work became virtually indistinguishable and neither artist signed or dated his canvases on the front, as Braque explained: ‘In the early days of cubism, Pablo Picasso and I were engaged in what we felt was a search for the anonymous personality. We were inclined to efface our personalities in order to find originality.’
Images were pared down to a visual syntax that appeared to be quite independent of any subject – with minimal adjustment a still life could become a figure, or a landscape a still life. Although certain elements are recognisable in this painting, such as the glass, spoon strainer and grapes, others remain ungraspable.
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Exhibition history
Shown in 6 exhibitions
Braque still lifes and interiors, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 07 Sep 1990–21 Oct 1990
Braque still lifes and interiors, City Museum & Art Gallery, Bristol, Bristol, 27 Oct 1990–09 Dec 1990
Agnew's 175th anniversary, Agnew's, London, London, 09 Jun 1992–24 Jul 1992
Paths to abstraction 1867-1917, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 26 Jun 2010–19 Sep 2010
Cubisti Cubismo, Complesso Monumentale del Vittoriano, Rome, 08 Mar 2013–23 Jun 2013
Modernists: selections from the European collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 07 Nov 2015–25 Apr 2016
20th-Century galleries, ground level (rehang), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 20 Aug 2022–2023
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Bibliography
Referenced in 12 publications
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Agnew's, London, Agnew's 175th anniversary, London, 1992, (colour illus.). cat.no. 13
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Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of New South Wales annual report 1998, Sydney, 1998, 6 (colour illus.).
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Christie's New York, Christie's New York: Impressionist and Modern paintings and sculpture (part 1), New York, 10 May 1989, (colour illus.). cat.no. 61
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Nicole Worms de Romilly and Jean Laude, Braque: cubism 1907-1914, Paris, 1982, 141 (illus.), 272.. no. 108
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Christine Dixson, Cubism & Australian art, 'Le Verre d'Absinthe [Glass of absinthe]', pg. 13, Melbourne, 2009, 13 (colour illus.).
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Charlotte Eyerman (Curator), Cubisti Cubismo, Milan, 2013, 107 (colour illus.). cat.no.4
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George Isarlov, Georges Braque, Paris, 1932, 17. no. 109
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Bruce James, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Western Collection: Paintings and Sculpture', pg. 17-77, Sydney, 1999, 53 (colour illus.).
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Terence Maloon, Paths to abstraction 1867-1917, Sydney, 2010, 229 (colour illus.).
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Maurice Raynal (Editor), Georges Braque, Rome, 1924, 24 (illus.).
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Wendy Symonds (Editor), Look, 'Georges Braque-Le Verre d'Absinthe', Heidelberg, Jun 1998, 13 (colour illus.).
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The South Bank Centre, Braque still lifes and interiors, London, 1990, 29 (colour illus.). cat.no. 3, Lent by Thomas Agnew & Sons Ltd
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Provenance
The provenance of this work is under review and records will be updated as new details become available. The Gallery welcomes any information. Contact provenance@ag.nsw.gov.au
Galerie Kahnweiler, Paris, 1921, Paris/France, Sold at either the first or second Kahnweiler sale at Hotel Drouot, Paris - 13 & 14 June 1921 no.14 'Nature morte' 35 x 27cm purchased by Andre Groult for FF605, or 17 & 18 November 1921 no.7 'Nature morte' 35 x 27cm purchased by Andre Breton for FF220
Jeanne Bucher (France, b.1872,d.1946), 1930s?, Paris/France, Information from Jean-François Jaeger, Director, Galerie Jeanne-Bucher Paris 27/12/2000: M. Jaeger writes that he can find no mention in their records of the painting being in the collection of Jeanne Bucher but says that T Catesby Jones was a client of Mme. Bucher's in the years preceding the 2nd World War and that the painting could possibly have been purchased from an exhibition at Galerie Jeanne-Bucher.
T Catesby Jones, post 1930s, New York/New York/United States of America, Information from John Ravenal, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts 8/1/2001: their records show that a label verso of frame [label now removed] states that the painting was the joint property of Jeanne Bucher and T Catesby Jones, later becoming the property of Mr and Mrs T Catesby Jones and then by descent to Mrs Richard Riley.
Mrs Richard Riley, pre 10 May 1989, Petersham/Massachusetts/United States of America, by descent, daughter of Mr and Mrs T Catesby Jones. Loaned to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts by Mrs Riley, 2 May 1968 - May 1989, loan no. MA.L40.68.2. Sold at Christie's New York, 10 May 1989, lot no. 61.
Christie's New York, 10 May 1989, New York/New York/United States of America, Purchased by Agnew's from Christie's New York, 10 May 1989, lot no. 61.
Agnew's, London, 10 May 1989-Oct 1997, London/England, Purchased by the AGNSW from Agnew's 1997.
