Frelinghuysen Morris House & Studio is lending a painting to the Met's exhibit, Cubism and the Trompe L'oeil Tradition opening Ocober 20th through January 22, 2023. This exhibit offers a new view of Cubism by demonstrating its engagement with the age-old tradition of trompe l’oeil painting. Meaning “deceives the eye”, trompe l’oeil beguiles the viewer with perceptual games, blurring the “real” world in 3D with fiction, a two-dimensional picture plane. 

George L.K. Morris acquired this 1914 collage with watercolor and charcoal by Cubist Juan Gris in 1937 titled, CompotierSur Une Nappe a Rayures (Fruit dish on a striped tablecloth) through his association with A.E. Gallatin, the artist and founder of the Museum of Living Art. Morris was Gallatin’s curator and together they bought such monumental paintings as Picasso’s Three Musicians and Leger’s The City, both of which were later donated to the Philadelphia Museum.

The 17 ¾”x14 ½” collage incorporates classic Cubist hallmarks of a still life composition and deconstruction of some elements. Using mimicry of material and coded references to current events with the use of new print media were also well used Cubist devices and they competed to invent even more ways to confound the viewer.