Cubism And The Trompe L'oeil Tradition

Exhibition at the Met Fifth Avenue, New York, 20 October 2022 - 22 January 2023

In a contest of creative one-upmanship, the Cubists Georges Braque, Juan Gris, and Pablo Picasso both parodied classic trompe l'oeil devices and invented new ways to confound the viewer. Indeed, many qualities considered unique to Cubism have been exploited by trompe l'oeil specialists over the centuries: the distinctly flat picture plane, the invasion of the 'real' world into the pictorial world, the mimicry of materials, and the inclusion of new print media and advertisements filled with coded references to the artist, the patron, and current events.

This exhibition catalogue offers a radically new vision of Cubism. Cubist works are linked to those of the trompe l'oeil specialists of previous centuries through the juxtaposition of more than one hundred Cubist paintings, drawings and collages with related compositions by old masters. Various essays trace the changing status of trompe l'oeil over the centuries, reveal that Braque's training in the craft of trompe l'oeil was integral to his Cubist practice, examine the materials used in Gris's collages, and discuss the hitherto unexamined iconography of trompe l'oeil in Cubist still lifes.