Le Viaduct de L’ Estaque
Georges Braque b. Paris, France (1882-1963) was a painter, collagist and draughtsman, sculptor and printmaker. His major contribution to Art History is through Cubisim, which he founded and developed alongside his close association with Picasso during the 1908-1912 period.
Houses at de L’Estaque
He also participated in Fauvism and Impressionism and his work was full of bold shapes and striking colours. His work during the War though was more sombre and reflective of the mood, but between the war, when the word changed – so did he, using lighter colours, themes and styles.
Man and Guitar 1911
Cubism though can be found in most of this work throughout his career. He studied painting at Le Havre Academy, at first concentrating on Impressionism. Around 1905, inspired by Cezanne and Van Gogh and their bright use of colours he became a Fauvist painter and exhibited with Henri Matisse and Andre Derain who were also Fauvists.
Braque had his first solo exhibition in 1908 and from 1909-1914 spent time with Picasso developing a darker colour palette and use of bold line which was to become the Cubism style.
The Portuguese
Cubism challenged presentable form as perspective and conveyed a different way of ‘seeing’, which reflected the ‘modern’ world. Braque incorporated collage innovatively into his work. His work after the WW1 changed direction again – reflecting nature and the effect of light, but he never strayed to far from his Cubist style and his bold use of lines and colour.
Girl with a Cross
In 1937 he began to add sculpture to his repertoire and did receive some international success when his pieces went beyond Europe and were shown in the USA. He worked after WW2, concentrating on lighter subjects like landscape, sea and nature. his health was not robust, yet it did not prevent him forming a new art movement of Cubism along side Picasso.
With thanks to WikiArt
More about Braque here
Images from here
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