ABSTRACT
The development of Cubism during its first six years from 1906 to 1912 has been called analytical because of the progressive tearing apart or disintegrating of natural forms. In the development of Analytical Cubism from the head to the head the disintegrated image of the natural object gradually took on a more and more abstract geometrical shape. During the years of Synthetic Cubism, Gris held his own even against Picasso and Braque, achieving a series of collages and painted compositions unsurpassed in precision and refinement. As a movement Cubism had consistently stopped short of complete abstraction. Heretics such as Delaunay had painted pure abstractions but in so doing had deserted Cubism. The picture contains one of the rare flashes of Picasso humor, which grows to the proportions of a commentary by the manner and force with which it is integrated as an idea into the structure of the composition.
