Marcelle la Blonde

Prints and Drawings

1921

Juan Gris
Spanish, 1887–1927

Gris met the celebrated blonde beauty Marcelle Brun while vacationing in the French Riviera, where they enjoyed lavish dinners and sometimes danced until three in the morning. Gris completed several portraits of his acquaintances during this time. All of the graphite portraits were bust-length, three-quarter views of the sitter, with single, continuous lines used to represent their facial features. Here, you can trace a line from Brun’s left eye, down the left side of her nose, to the top of her lip.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: Juan Gris
Title: Marcelle la Blonde
Place: Spain (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: Made 1921
Medium: Graphite on cream wove paper
Inscriptions: Signed, dated, dedicated, and inscribed recto, at lower left and bottom, in graphite: "A Madame/ Marcelle Brun/ Amicalement/ Juan Gris/ 3–21/MARCELLE LA BLONDE"
Dimensions: 36 × 27 cm (14 3/16 × 10 11/16 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Dorothy Braude Edinburg to the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection
Reference Number: 2013.946

Suzanne Folds McCullagh (ed.), Drawings in Dialogue: Old Master Through Modern, The Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection, exh. cat. (Chicago, 2006), pp. 145 and 164–165, cat. 117 (ill.).

Dortmund, Germany, Museum am Ostwall, “Juan Gris,” Oct. 23–Dec. 4, 1965, n. p., cat. 142; also the Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne, Germany, Dec. 28, 1965–Feb. 13, 1966.
Paris, Orangerie des Tuileries, “Juan Gris,” Mar. 14–July 1, 1974, p. 126, cat. 151 (ill.).
Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, “Juan Gris,” July 20–Sept. 29, 1974, n. p., cat. Z42 (ill.).
Madrid, Salas Pablo Ruiz Picasso, “Juan Gris,” Sept. 22–Nov. 24, 1985, p. 361, cat. 168 (ill.).
Art Institute of Chicago, “Drawings in Dialogue: Old Master Through Modern, The Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection,” June 3–July 30, 2006, pp. 145 and 164–165, cat. 117 (ill.).
Art Institute of Chicago, “The Thrill of the Chase: Drawings for the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection,” Mar. 15-June 15, 2014, no cat.

Given by the artist to Marcelle Brun, Paris, 1921. Sold by Sylvain Durand, Paris, to Alfred Richet, Paris, 1957; sold, Sotheby’s, London, Nov. 29, 1994, lot 18, to Dorothy Braude Edinburg, Brookline, MA; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2013.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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