BRAQUE, Georges

(1882 - 1963)

Georges Braque, was born in 1882 in Argenteuil-sur-Seine, and was trained as a craftsman. From 1901 he studied painting at the Acádemie Humbert and the École des Beaux Arts. After a brief spell as a Fauve painter in the South of France, he moved to Paris where he was represented by the dealer Daniel-Henry-Kahnweiler. Along with Picasso both artists developed the Art Movement known as Cubism. Braque was very loyal to the Movement and throughout his career he continued to develop variations on the theme.

The effect of the First World War on Braque was profound, he served at the front line where he was seriously injured. The effect on Paris the city he had so loved was equally profound. His circle of friends had disbanded. Some were killed during the war including Apollinaire, and others were forced into exile including Kahnweiler. His friendship with Picasso became strained and they quarelled. The result was that Braque painted less.

It was only in the summer of 1918 that Braque regained full control of his creative force. He redeveloped his style of painting. Instead of the grey colours and the use of elaborate and complicated geometric planes of his early cubist phase he began to reinstate the use of bright colours and simpler and larger forms. The still life of grapes and bowls is divided into simple planes which intersect the composition. The effect is brilliant, of floating forms moving in and out of picture plane whilst being underpinned by the solidity of the fruit.

1919 was a great year for the artist, he had his first major show with Léonce Rosenberg of the Galerie de L’effort Moderne, which gave the public its first opportunity to see his work since the outbreak of the War five years beforehand.

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