Juan Gris
Nature morte (Violon et encrier), 1913

Alfred Flechtheim and Juan Gris

The Spanish painter Juan Gris is one of the principal respresentatives of Synthetic Cubism along with Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. During the ground-breaking period when Cubism evolved from 1906–09, Gris’ studio was next to Picasso’s in the so-called ‘Bateau Lavoir’ – an old, delapidated building in Paris that, at that time, was the centre of the avant-garde scene. Gris, however, did not initially actively participate in intense artists debates himself, working instead as an illustrator for various magazines in Paris until 1910. It was only in 1912 that Gris started to join the artistic discourse and had a decisive influence on Cubism over the next five years.

Gris met the gallery owner Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler who was based in Paris in 1911 and signed an exclusive contract with him in 1913. This had to be dissolved due to the outbreak of World War I, but was renewed when Kahnweiler opened his Galerie Simon in 1920. Just a short time later, the two art dealers Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler and Alfred Flechtheim formed an exclusive joint venture and Flechtheim took on the representation in Germany of all artists at Galerie Simon. From then on Gris belonged to those artists closely associated with Flechtheim. His ‚Notes sur ma peinture’ were published in ‘Der Querschnitt’ in September 1923 on the occasioin of his first solo exhibition at the gallery in Berlin. A further solo exhibition followed in 1925 at the gallery in Düsseldorf.

The solo exhibitions organised by Flechtheim were the only ones held outside Paris during the artist’s lifetime. Flechtheim paid tribute to Gris’ work following the artist’s death with a large retrospective in 1927. In his monograph on Gris, Kahnweiler wrote of Flechtheim: “Gris owed so much to this enthusiastic art lover, this great art dealer, this tireless patron of art.”