Coffee Grinder and Glass

Juan Gris is an important Cubist. In Coffee Grinder and Glass, forms have been fragmented into several different planes and then reorganized on the surface of the painting. A normal sense of perspective or illusion of depth has been destroyed by merging the lines of the tabletop and louvered window shade in the lower right corner of the painting and by tilting the surface of the table toward the viewer. With the addition of the letters Le J, for Le Journal, the French word for newspaper, Gris alludes to Cubist collage, a technique in which paper or similar materials are glued to a surface. Most characteristic of Gris is the use of rich, jewel-like colors.