![Louis Marcoussis - Still Life with Menu and Siphon [c.1920]](http://c2.staticflickr.com/9/8879/28132628481_7df532cd32_b.jpg)
Café society in fin de siècle Paris was the crucible for debate amongst artists and writers. Long hours of heated exchanges between artists, at times aided by excesses of alcohol, ended in fisticuffs. Still, the trappings of the cafés provided ample subject matter to be captured by artists. In the present work, a panoply of objects populate a café tabletop providing the viewer with the accoutrements associated with smoke-filled Parisian cafés. The menu, playing card and pipe occupy the foreground of the composition. A theatrical stroke of drama has been created by the inclusion of a raised curtain that frames the siphon or fizz bottle and glass.
[Sotheby’s, New York - Oil on canvas, 55.2 x 38.4 cm]