Bottle of Bass, Guitar, Newspaper and Glass on a Square Table

‘The wooden table, easily identifiable by its grained effect, has been chopped into separate pieces. The bottle labelled BA[SS] at the left seems to rise from under the table; its elongated neck towers over the rest of the drawing to the two, broken concentric circles that represent its opening. The guitar has been divided and dispersed across the table like an opened fan; its body appears at least twice, and the strings, sound hole, and four round bridge holes (to hold the strings in place) can be identified, although the neck is absent. A portion of a newspaper at the lower right carries the letters JO[URNAL], an a footed glass nearby is drawn in profile as well as from above. At first glance, the disassembled elements appear to be viewed from above and look quite flat; however, the strongly vertical Bass bottle and the glass create a shift in perception—a new, perpendicular perspective that allows all the objects to appear in relief’ [1].

‘Indeed, this drawing by Picasso, in its constant interplay of pretence and reality, appears to imitate a collage in the style of those of the autumn of 1912, made up among other things of cuttings from real newspapers and cut-out pieces of paper resembling wood’. [2]

‘In many of the Works he painted during these months the way the cubist space is understood is very close to Juan Gris and the marked geometrical structure comes through at times tediously precise and purposeful. We are at a time when the works of these two painters have much in common even though the differences are also quite noticeable. […] Picasso’s Andalusian origin surfaces here with its overflowing fantasy. There are innumerable variations and in his works there is always a certain degree of “movement,” unlike Gris’ canvases, each of which seems locked inside itself, claiming a static, fixed permanence. While looking at one of Picasso’s paintings its own dynamism makes us feel the need to look at another one’ [3].


[1] GIMÉNEZ, Carmen (ed.). Collection Museo Picasso Málaga. Malaga: Museo Picasso Málaga, 2003, p. 206.
[2] GIMÉNEZ, Carmen (dir). Picasso primera mirada [cat. exp. Palacio Episcopal (Málaga), 1994]. Sevilla: Junta de Andalucía, Consejería de Cultura, 1994, p. 326.
[3] PALAU, Josep, Picasso. Cubism (1907-1917). Barcelona: Könemann, 1996, p. 364.