Focus on Man with a Pipe and explore the abstract.
Man with a Pipe, also referred to as Portrait of an American Smoker, Portrait of an American Smoking, American Smoking and American Man, is a painting by the French Cubist artist Jean Metzinger. The work was reproduced on the cover of catalogue of the Exhibition of Cubist and Futurist Pictures, Boggs & Buhl Department Store, Pittsburgh, forming part of a show in 1913 that traveled to several U.S. cities: Milwaukee, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, New York, and Philadelphia.
In 1914 a catalogue was printed for the occasion of the Milwaukee leg of the show, 16 April to 12 May, titled Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture in "The Modern Spirit", hosted by the Milwaukee Art Society. Artists represented included Lucile Swan, Amadeo de Souza Cardoso, Manierre Dawson, Marcel Duchamp, Jacques Villon, Albert Gleizes, Fernand Léger, Gustave Miklos, Francis Picabia, and Henry Fitch Taylor. Metzinger's painting titled Portrait of "American Smoking" figured as No. 101 of the catalogue. And much as the outcry that resulted from the Cubists works at the Armory Show in New York, Chicago and Boston, this traveling exhibition created an uproar in other major U.S. cities. Though he did not exhibit with his Cubist colleagues at the Armory Show in 1913, Metzinger, with this painting and others, contributed in 1913 to the integration of modern art into the United States.
Man With a Pipe was gifted to the Wriston Art Center Galleries, Lawrence University, by Howard Green. In 1956 American Man was requested for touring by the American Federation of Arts via the State Department. The work was sent to Sweden and subsequently shown throughout western Europe. It was returned to the college in September 1957. The painting, shown here in a black and white half-tone photographic reproduction, has been missing since 1998, having disappeared in transit while on loan, between 27 July and 2 August.
Jean Metzinger American Federation of Arts Jacques Villon Francis Picabia Cubist Gustave Miklos Fernand Léger Lucile Swan Pittsburgh Armory Show Henry Fitch Taylor Manierre Dawson Marcel Duchamp Albert Gleizes Lawrence University Amadeo de Souza Cardoso