Le Fumeur
| Man with Pipe | |
|---|---|
| French: Le Fumeur | |
,_129.7_x_96.68_cm,_Carnegie_Museum_of_Art.jpg) |
|
| Artist | Jean Metzinger |
| Year | c. 1912-13 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 129.7 cm × 96.68 cm (51.06 in × 38.06 in) |
| Location | Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA |
Le Fumeur (en. The Smoker), or Man with Pipe, is a Cubist painting by the French artist Jean Metzinger. It has been suggested that the sitter depicted in the painting represents either Guillaume Apollinaire or Max Jacob. The work was exhibited in the spring of 1914 at the Salon des Indépendants, Paris, Champ-de-Mars, March 1–April 30, 1914, no. 2289, Room 11. A photograph of Le Fumeur was published in Le Petit Comtois (Au Salon des Indépendants, Les chefs-d'œuvre modernes), 13 March 1914, for the occasion of the exhibition. In July 1914 the painting was exhibited in Berlin at Herwarth Walden’s Galerie Der Sturm, with works by Albert Gleizes, Raymond Duchamp-Villon and Jacques Villon.
Le Fumeur, titled Man with Pipe and dated c. 1912, forms part of the permanent collection of the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (gift of G. David Thompson, 1953).
Le Fumeur, signed "JMetzinger" (lower left) is an oil painting on canvas with dimensions 129.7 x 96.68 cm (51 1/16 x 38 1/16 in.), representing an elegantly dressed man—sitting in what appears to be a café—perhaps Guillaume Apollinaire or Max Jacob, two long-time friend of the artist. The vertical composition is painted in a geometrically Cubist style. The sitter, smoking a pipe and wearing a fashionable black felt derby hat, is seen in multiple perspective; from different points of view simultaneously.
The global composition is highly geometricized, with various planes, angles, layers and facets, as are specific elements depicted on the trompe-l'œil wooden table in the foreground (as if seen from above). The roundness and shading of the mans attire (particularly in the sleeves) stands in sharp contrast to the angular momentum engendered by the overall cubic construction of the piece; while the chairs in the lower half of the work and flowered wallpaper of the background are treaded in comparatively naturalistic detail, similar to the backgrounds of late 19th century portraits.
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