Editing Juan Gris (section)

==Crystal Cubism==
{{main|Crystal Cubism}}
[[File:Juan Gris, 1916, Woman with Mandolin, after Corot (La femme à la mandoline, d'après Corot), oil on canvas, 92 x 60 cm, Kunstmuseum Basel.jpg|thumb|upright|Juan Gris, September 1916, ''Woman with Mandolin, after Corot'' (''La femme à la mandoline, d'après Corot''), oil on canvas, 92 x 60 cm, [[Kunstmuseum Basel]]]]
[[File:Juan Gris (José Victoriano González Pérez), Spanish - Still Life before an Open Window, Place Ravignan - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright|Juan Gris, 1915, ''Still Life before an Open Window, Place Ravignan'', oil on canvas, 115.9 x 88.9 cm, [[Philadelphia Museum of Art]]]]
Gris's works from late 1916 through 1917 exhibit a greater simplification of geometric structure, a blurring of the distinction between objects and setting, between subject matter and background. The oblique overlapping planar constructions, tending away from equilibrium, can best be seen in ''Woman with Mandolin, after Corot'' (September 1916) and in its epilogue, ''Portrait of Josette Gris'' (October 1916; [[Museo Reina Sofia]]).<ref name="Green, 1987">Christopher Green, ''Cubism and its Enemies, Modern Movements and Reaction in French Art, 1916–1928'', Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1987, pp. 13–47.</ref>

The clear-cut underlying geometric framework of these works seemingly controls the finer elements of the compositions; the constituent components, including the small planes of the faces, become part of the unified whole. Though Gris certainly had planned the representation of his chosen subject matter, the abstract armature serves as the starting point.<ref name="Green, 1987" />

The geometric structure of Juan Gris's Crystal period is already palpable in ''Still Life before an Open Window, Place Ravignan'' (June 1915; [[Philadelphia Museum of Art]]). The overlapping elemental planar structure of the composition serves as a foundation to flatten the individual elements onto a unifying surface, foretelling the shape of things to come.

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.<ref name="Green, 1987" />