Still Life

Max Weber was one of the earliest American artists to explore Cubism, inspired by his friendship with Pablo Picasso. He met the Spanish artist in Paris while studying there in 1905–08, and at that time acquired one of Picasso’s still lifes—which became the first painting by Picasso to enter the United States. After his return to New York, Weber developed an expressive and increasingly sophisticated Cubist style. In Still Life, he rendered diverse elements in a complex and dynamic arrangement. The calligraphic handling of line energizes the forms of the composition, and the short, choppy brushwork breaks the pictorial space into planes. Although American critics, unfamiliar with or antagonistic toward modern painting, frequently responded harshly to Weber’s figural paintings, his still lifes met with approval, establishing him as the most advanced artist working in New York before the Armory Show.