Georges Braque {brahk}, b. May 13, 1882, d. Aug. 31, 1963,
in collaboration with Pablo Picasso, was the founder of cubism. After receiving training at the local art
school in Le Havre, Braque went to Paris in 1900. There he studied (1902-04) at the Académie Humbert
and then at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in the studio of Léon Bonnat. Braque's early works (1903-05) were
executed in the mood of early impressionism. Greatly influenced by André Derain, Henri Matisse, and
Maurice de Vlaminck, Braque entered (1906 or 1907) his Fauve period, in which he used soft, undulating patterns
and brilliant colors. Unlike the other Fauves (see Fauvism), however, he showed an interest in architectonic
solidity of composition and an emphasis on strongly defined volumes rather than color and brushwork.
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"Still Life with Bottle, Fruit, and Napkins"
by Georges Braque
Private Collection
© 1995 Artists Rights Society
BUY BRAQUE PRINTS
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A crucial change in Braque's art came in the fall of 1907, when he
rediscovered Paul Cezanne at the memorial exhibitions at the Salon d'Automne and the Bernheim-Jeune Gallery. At
this time, he also met Picasso. In the late work of Cezanne, both Braque and Picasso saw a new geometrization of
form and new spatial relationships that were to become the basis of cubism. Spurred by his close association with
Picasso, whose Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1906-07) has been called "the first painting of the 20th century," Braque
transformed his style radically. Within three years, Picasso and Braque invented analytic cubism, a new, completely
nonillusionistic and nonimitative method of depicting the visual world. Their concerns were so mutual and their
association so intense that in many instances only experts can distinguish Braque's paintings of 1910-12 from those
of Picasso. Violin and Pitcher (1910; Kunstmuseum, Basel) is one of the best examples of Braque's analytic cubism.
The paintings of this period are all executed in muted greens, grays, ochers, and browns. The objects are fragmented,
as though seen from multiple viewpoints. This multiplicity introduced the element of time into vision. These fragments,
or cubes, are organized along a grid, thereby creating a compact pictorial structure.
Braque's works from the period 1917-20 are derived compositionally
from synthetic cubism, the second phase of cubism, which began about 1914. Much flatter and more variegated in color,
they include brightly dotted decorative passages. Around 1930-31, Braque moved to the coast of Normandy in France.
As a result, he changed the subjects of his paintings; bathers, beach scenes, and seascapes were now his favorite
themes. Stylistically, he became increasingly interested in ornamentation and patterned surfaces. During the late
1930s and early '40s, Braque was drawn to melancholy themes. From 1945, birds were a dominant subject. Braque's
canvases done during the 1950s show a return to the brilliant colors of the Fauve period, as in the Louvre ceiling
(1952-53) and the decoration for the villa at Saint Paul-de-Vence (1954). Active until the end of his life, Braque
produced an oeuvre that includes sculpture, graphics, book illustration, and decorative art.
Magdalena Dabrowski, Curatorial Assistant, Museum of Modern Art, New York City.
Source: The Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, Release #9.01, ©1997.
Bibliography: Raymond Cogniat, Georges Braque (1980); Douglas Cooper, Braque: The Great Years (1973);
John Elderfield, The "Wild Beasts": Fauvism and Its Affinities (1976); Jean Leymarie, Braque (1961, repr. 1988);
Edwin Mullins, The Art of Georges Braque (1968); William Rubin, Picasso and Braque (1990); Karen Wilkin, Georges
Braque (1991).
Images: "Still Life with Bottle, Fruit, and Napkins"
(Private Collection/Bridgeman Art Library/Copyright 1995 Artists Rights Society [ARS], New York/ADAGP, Paris)
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