A cellist and a pianist—described by the artist as “two bearded young French musicians . . . giving a recital”—perform in front of a deep green background. The painting’s musical subject and play of transparencies across fragmented planes emerge from Cubist artistic strategies. Born in Russia and based in New York, Weber had traveled to Paris in 1905 to continue his artistic training and there befriended the rising generation of avant-garde artists including Henri Matisse, Henri Rousseau, and Pablo Picasso. Upon his return to the United States in 1908, Weber remained an important advocate of Cubism.
Gallery label from 2024