In Fruit and a Jug on a Table (Metzinger), how is the Description discussed?
Fruit and a Jug on a Table is an oil and sand on canvas, signed JMetzinger, lower left, and inscribed on the reverse; Peint par moi / en 1916 / Metzinger. The work represents a diverse grouping of objects—a bowl of fruit, a carafe (or jug), a glass, and a bottle labelled BANYU. Banyuls-sur-Mer is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France, located near Cerbère and Collioure. The foothills of Pyrenees run into the Mediterranean Sea in Banyuls-sur-Mer, creating a steep cliff line. Banyuls-sur-Mer is known for its wines, such as the sweet wine Banyuls: a fortified apéritif or dessert wine made from old vines cultivated in terraces on the slopes of the French and Catalan Pyrenees.
The style of Fruit and a Jug on a Table, its colors, the placement of objects and the background textures differ from Metzinger's earlier Crystal Cubist style of 1914–1916. According to Joann Moser, this work was most likely executed around 1917 or 1918.From 1914 through 1916 Metzinger's work was more abstract, overlapping volumetric forms were replaced with flattened surfaces, such as circles, squares, and rectangles.
Fruit and a Jug on a Table represent a more naturalistic approach expressed by the artist after 1917. Temporal and spatial effects are more subdued. The multiple perspective and Riemannian geometry seen in his 1910–1912 works is no longer to be seen overtly, yet the perspective reminiscent of Paul Cézanne—the angle of the table and the still life elements on it—are unmistakably active, still. Decorative patterns likewise present, and surface impasto, visibly thicker and more ubiquitously prevalent than previous years, are typical of Metzinger's 1917–18 works.
Cubist Cerbère Crystal Cubist Riemannian geometry Collioure Mediterranean Sea Pyrenees Banyuls-sur-Mer apéritif Banyuls Paul Cézanne fortified