Georges Braque – Early occupation with the Fauves
Georges Braque was born on 13 May 1882 in Argenteuil. The son of a decoration painter, he was intended to follow in his father’s footsteps and thus received the corresponding apprenticeship early on. An artistic interest in painting motivated him to also attend evening courses at the École des Beaux-Arts followed by further studies at eth Académie Humbert in Paris. There, Georges Braque made the acquaintance of the poet and painter Marie Laurencin and Francis Picabia. On the occasion of his participation in the XXII Salon des Indépendants, he also met the artists André Derain, Albert Marquet and Henri Matisse. Othon Friesz introduced Braque to the Fauves, to whom he felt temporarily attached. A retrospective of Paul Cézanne, who died in 1906, made a great impression on the young painter in the ‘Salon d’Automne, and exerted an undeniable influence on Braque’s further development and his path towards Cubism, but the deciding factor was his acquaintance with Picasso.
Fruitful friendship with Pablo Picasso
In December 1907, Georges Braque and the efficacious lyricist, journalist and art critic Guillaume Apollinaire visited Pablo Picasso’s studio. The latter had completed the epochal work Les Demoiselles d’Avignon that summer and the sight of this painting turned Braque’s understanding of art on its head, leading to a new creative phase as well as a close friendship with Picasso. Georges Braque subsequently created one of the few nudes in his oeuvre, but the said picture, Grand nu (large nude), provoked disgust and rejection from overwhelmed viewers such as the feminist author Inez Haynes Irwin and the American writer Gelett Burgess due to the unusual, deformed design of the woman depicted. For Braque, however, this form of depiction was imperative because he was of the opinion that painting lacked the means to depict the natural beauty of women in an unadulterated and appropriate way. It required an artistic interpretation, and the search for the relevant method of expression led Georges Braque and his friend Picasso finally to Cubism.
Founder and principal master of Cubism
At times, Georges Braque was so affiliated to Picasso that both showed conspicuous overlaps in their work - viewed with suspicion by contemporary critics. In the process, both artists embraced the thematic concerns of the other: Braque also turned to the human figure whilst Picasso opened up to the depiction of landscapes. The gallerist Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, whose commitment soon made him the most important promoter of Cubism, played a major role in the success of both painters. Braque moved increasingly away from analytical Cubism and progressed towards synthetic Cubism where he worked with collages, integrating physical elements such as sand and paper. He served as a sergeant in the First World War where he was badly wounded, impeding his artistic activities for a length of time. Following a long convalescence, his contact to Picasso was completely broken and he now associated with the Spanish painter Juan Gris and the sculptor Henri Laurens. He also largely moved away from the Cubist painting style that he himself had so significantly coined.
Discovery of a new style and international success
In his last work phase and after his change of style, Georges Braque reverted increasingly to figurative elements, but continued to enjoy great success. One important motif was that of a large white bird which had featured at the centre of an earlier painting, a work he then destroyed. In his studio paintings, space and objects intertwine to form a fascinating web. Braque produced the ceiling painting for the Etruscan Gallery in the Louvre, stained glass windows for two churches in Varengeville and took part in Documenta in Kassel three times – the last, posthumously. In the 1950s his fame reached the USA, and he is still counted today as the most important pioneer of Modernism.
Georges Braque died on 31 August 1963 in Paris.
Georges Braque - Works that have already been sold at Kunsthaus Lempertz: