Still Life with Coffee Pot

Artist Roger de La Fresnaye (French, 1885-1925)

Place of OriginFrance

Dateabout 1910-1911

DimensionsH: 21 1/2 in. (54.6 cm); W: 32 in. (81.2 cm)

MediumOil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1951.380

Not on View

Label TextBorn into an aristocratic French family, Roger de la Fresnaye had extensive artistic training in French academies such as the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts (School of Fine Arts), but was drawn to Cubism as it developed in Paris (see Picasso’s Woman in a Black Hat in this gallery). Still Life with Coffee Pot is one of a small group of still life paintings that La Fresnaye worked on around 1911, when he was evolving a personal style based on Cubism. Here he depicted simple, commonplace objects that allowed him to concentrate on the shape of their forms and their situation in space. He also heightened the contrast in lighting and played up textures. Particularly of note are the short, well-defined brushstrokes that highlight the left edges of the apple and pear. By bringing out this feature, La Fresnaye draws attention to the way we see the fruit rest upon the platter.Published ReferencesSeligman, G., Roger de La Fresnaye, Greenwich, Conn., 1969, no. 150, repr.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, pp. 89-90, pl. 286.

Exhibition HistoryParis, Galerie Barbazanges, Exposition retrospective des oeuvres de Roger de La Fresnaye, 1926, no. 23 (as Cafetière et pichet).

Paris, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Les créateurs du Cubisme, 1935, [p. 19], no. 81.

Paris, Musée Nationale d'Art Moderne, Roger de La Fresnaye, 1950, no. 39.