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Georges Braque

"What exists between the apple and its plate must also be painted."

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Notes of biography

George Braque was born in Argenteuil in 1882. At the age of eight his family moved to Le Havre where he continued studying and took evening classes at the town’s art school. At 18 he went to Paris where one of his father’s friends employed him as an apprentice painter-decorator. He found lodging in Montmartre and took drawing lessons with the local county council. After accomplishing his military service in le Havre he settled down permanently in Paris and enrolled in an art course at the Humbert Adcademy where he met Francis Picabia and Marie Laurencin.
In 1904 he found himself a studio. His friendship with Othon Friesz, who, like himself came from Le Havre, attracted him to the Fauvist movement. In 1906 Braque moved to a region in Marseille called l’Estaque where he decisively joined the Fauvist movement. He exhibited a number of his works which were sold at the “Independents Show”. Encouraged by his recent successes Braque returned to le Midi and in October 1907 he signed a contract in Paris with an art dealer Kahnweiler. The latter introduced him to Apollinaire who turn introduced him to Picasso who, at that time was working in his studio at Bateau-Lavoir . “The Young Ladies of Avignon” was a revelation to Braque.
His graphic work started in 1907-1908 with Cubist etchings. (Published by Maeght). Back once again in le Midi Braque’s style developed. He decomposed space into geometric compact masses using a palette of dark colours. The works that he had intended to exhibit at the autumn show were refused! He exhibited them at his own exhibition at the Kahnweiler Gallery at the end of 1908. It was on this occasion that the word “Cube” was first used (by the critic Louis Vauxcelles). A strong friendship between Braque and Picasso led to a close collaboration (1909-1912). The two men researched and influenced each other mutually. Braque started studying still-life, which, from then onwards became an important element in his works. It was an era of Analytical Cubism, a period when Braque started to use figures. For the fist time the artist introduced letters and numbers, painted with stencils into his works. He incorporated natural elements (sand, sawdust, iron filings) and produced his first collages. Cubism entered into its synthetic period.
Braque is called up to fight in the First World War. He was badly wounded and underwent a trepanation He recovered slowly and took up his painting again in 1917.
He was disconcerted by the development of his friend Picasso’s work and their collaboration came to an end. George Braque advanced towards a less aggressive Cubism, more colourful moving more towards the respect of the object it represented. He produced in series: Canephors, chimneys (1922-1927), swimmers, beaches, cliffs (1930), he also illustrated books commissioned by Vollard. Illustrating became an important aspect of the artist’s work, throughout his life he illustrated texts from Apollinaire, Artaud, Eluard, Hésiode, Illiazd, Jouhandeau, Paulhan, Ponge, Reverdy, Saint-John Perse (“L’ordre des Oiseaux”), Au Vent d'Arles, 1962 (read the extract of the editor’s interview in French language) and many other writers, intellectuals or poets. The years that followed were particularly prolific and Braque’s evolution was marked out by a succession of decorative still-lives. At the end of the Second World War a serious illness forced him to stop working for a while. In 1949 Braque completed the first paintings in the “serie de Ateliers” and worked on theatre scenery. 1n 1948 he and other artists (Léger, Lipchitz, Chagall, Richier, Rouault, Bazaine, Matisse, Bonnard etc.) sculpted the door of the tabernacle of the Church of Assay (Haute-Savoie), which represented the Eucharistic symbol, the fish, and produced small sketches for the four tapestries to be the subject of the pedestal table . In 1952 he was commissioned to paint the ceiling of the Henry II gallery at the Louvre (black birds, outlined in white on a blue background). In 1956 he created the stain-glass windows for a chapel at Varengeville/Mer (Normandy) where he owned a house. In 1958 he finished the “Serie des Ateliers” begun in the post war period.
Georges Braque died in Paris in 1963. He is buried in the marine cemetery at Varengeville/Mer, a small village hidden in a copse.

Artists on display

The art and the artists display: proclamations, galleries, museums, personal or collective exhibitions. On walls or in shop windows, wise or rebels, posters warn, argue, show. Some were specially conceived by an artist for such or such event, other, colder, have only the letter.

Some were created in lithographic technic, most are simple offset reproductions. They are many those who like collecting these rectangles of paper, monochrome or in games of colours, in matt paper or brilliant, with many words or almost dumb.

We are happy also to be able to greet, by this pages, mythical galleries as those of Denise René, Louis Carré, Claude Bernard, Berheim Jeune, Maeght, Pierre Loeb and others.

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Complete work(s)

Complete work(s)
All the complete works

Bibliographic track and more

To read about the artist :
  • « Le monologue du peintre », G. Charbonnier, Julliard, 1959
  • « Braque, la peinture et nous », Dora Vallier, Seuil, 1982
  • « Georges Braque, vie et œuvre », B. Zurcher, Nathan, 1988
  • « Braque », Nadine Pouillon et autres, ed. Centre Georges Pompidou, 1992
  • « Braque ou la peinture sacrée », Jean Paulhan, Ed. de L'échoppe, Paris, 1993
  • « Georges Braque, rétrospective », J.-L. Prat & autres, Fondation Maeght, 1994
  • « Georges Braque », J.-L. Prat, cat. Fondation Pierre Gianadda, 1997
  • «  Georges Braque et le paysage », cat. d'expo., Ed. Hazan, Paris, 2006
  • «  Braque - L'espace réinventé », collectif, Ed. Prisma, Paris, 2013
  • « Georges Braque », collectif, cat. d'expo., Grand Palais, Ed. RMN, Paris, 2013
To read from the artist :
  • « Entretiens, notes et écrits sur la peinture », André Verdet, Galilée, 1978
  • « Le jour et la nuit : Cahiers de G. B., 1917-1952 », Ed. Gallimard, réed.1988
Website :
www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/braque

More :


Art movements

+ FAUVISM / 1902-1907 / Charles Camoin, Auguste Chabaud, etc.
+ CUBISM / 1907-1925 / Robert Delaunay, Marcel Duchamp, Charles Dufresne, Jacques Lipchitz, Jean Metzinger, etc.
+ ARMORY SHOW / 1913 / Constantin Brancusi, Charles Camoin, Marcel Duchamp, Edward Hopper, Joseph Stella, etc.
All art movements

See & discover

Beyond works currently in stock, it seemed to me useful to combine business with pleasure by letting you discover others works by artists in my gallery. These artworks, now sold or removed from our website, have been in our stock in the past.

These pages will undoubtedly make it possible for some of you to associate an image with its title or the other way round, for others it will be a good time to discover more on such and such artist. For the sake of confidentiality – the pieces being no longer available – we won't display neither their numbering or their price. For whatever reason, make sure to visit this amazing art database with to date 6441 online works just for your pleasure! Michelle Champetier

See & discover