Two Pierrots

1910s–1920s

The pupil Picasso “wished away”

Gris regarded Picasso as a teacher, but according to Gertrude Stein in The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, Picasso treated him with undisguised irritation: Gris was the only person Picasso wished away. At first Gris was spoken of only as Picasso’s follower, but when he became an independent artist and one of the leaders of Cubism, Picasso grew jealous.

1919–1920

Critics begin to write about “synthetic” Cubism

In 1919 and particularly 1920, artists and critics began to write conspicuously about this “synthetic” approach and to assert its importance in the overall scheme of advanced Cubism.

1922–1924

Working with Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes

From 1922 to 1924 he worked with Sergei Diaghilev and his ballet company; in 1924 he designed sets and costumes for the Ballets Russes.

1923

Major exhibitions in Paris and Berlin

In 1923 major exhibitions of Gris’s work took place at the Galerie Simon in Paris and the Galerie Flechtheim in Berlin.

1924

The Sorbonne lecture “The Possibilities of Painting”

In 1924 he gave his definitive lecture, Des possibilités de la peinture (“The Possibilities of Painting”), to students of the philosophy faculty at the Sorbonne, arguing that no work destined to become classic can look like a work of an earlier period. He articulated most of his aesthetic theories in 1924–25.

1924

Gertrude Stein writes about Gris in the Little Review

In 1924 Gertrude Stein, who befriended Gris and promoted his work on the art market, wrote a note about him for the Little Review. In her view Picasso was the founder of Cubism, while Gris “infused Cubism with clarity and exaltation”.