“Cubism is not a manner but an aesthetic,” explained Juan Gris, one of the artists who advanced the movement. “It is therefore inevitably connected with every manifestation of contemporary thought.” With Picasso, Léger, and Braque, Gris was one of the big four who developed Cubism in the first decades of the 20th century. His art was distinctive. Gris was drawn to everyday subjects, and his angular planes were less aggressively layered than those of Picasso and Braque, and more vibrantly colored. Though he died young—in 1927, at age 40—his work continues to inspire. In the first U.S. exhibition on Gris in over 35 years—co-organized by BMA and the Dallas Museum of Art—40 exquisite paintings and collages, dating from 1911 to 1926, explore this underappreciated master. —E.C.