Artist Georges Braque: How he became the Great Cubist Painter- Art History School

Join us on another episode of our art history channel as we delve into the life, works, and legacy of a true pioneer of modern art Georges Braque. From his early days as a Fauvist, collaborating with Picasso, to his ground breaking role in co-founding Cubism, Braque's artistic trajectory is a testament to innovation and creative daring.
In this video, we'll navigate the intricate interplay between Braque's evolving style and the cultural backdrop of his time. Witness his mesmerizing fusion of form and content, as he skilfully navigated the realms of abstraction and representation. We'll explore his profound influence on Cubist principles, dissecting his collaborative efforts with Picasso and the birth of a revolutionary movement that transformed the artistic landscape forever.
Georges Braque (1882–1963) stands as one of the seminal figures in 20th-century art, hailed for his transformative impact on the Cubist movement. Born in Argenteuil, France, Braque initially pursued a career in decorative painting before embracing the bold colours of Fauvism, collaborating closely with Pablo Picasso during the early 1900s. However, it was their co-invention of Cubism that catapulted Braque to artistic renown.
Braque's ingenious approach to deconstructing and reconstructing forms revolutionized the concept of representation. His "analytical Cubism" sought to depict objects from multiple perspectives in a single composition, challenging traditional notions of space and dimension. His meticulous exploration of geometric shapes, fragmented planes, and earthy colour palettes gave rise to artworks that celebrated abstraction while retaining a sense of connection to reality.
The outbreak of World War I temporarily paused Braque's artistic pursuits, but he resumed his creative journey with a renewed vigour post-war. The "synthetic Cubism" phase that followed introduced elements of collage and mixed media, showcasing his versatility and innovation.
Throughout his career, Braque's dedication to pushing artistic boundaries left an indelible mark, inspiring generations of artists to rethink the way they perceived and expressed the world around them. His legacy endures as a testament to the power of artistic evolution and imagination.

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From a lowly apprentice decorator
in Le Havre, France,

to a revolutionary pioneer of Cubism
alongside Pablo Picasso,

Georges Braque's life was filled
with triumph and tragedy.

But behind the genius of his work
lies a complex and intriguing figure.

Are you ready to delve

into his captivating story
and enduring legacy?

Join me as I explore the life
and creative vision of Georges Braque.

Georges Braque was born on 13th May, 1882,
in Argenteuil, near Paris, France,

to parents Charles and Augustine.

His father who was an amateur painter
and his grandfather before him,

managed a house decorating business,

which is no doubt
where Braque's interest in texture

and the tactile effects
of paint came from.

In 1890, the family moved to Le Havre,

where Braque attended
the local public school,

and often accompanied his father
on painting expeditions.

He developed an interest in sports,
especially boxing,

and also learned to play the flute.

At the age of 15, Braque enrolled
in an evening art course

at the École des Beaux-Arts in Le Havre,

where he studied painting

and learned traditional
painting techniques.

In 1899, at the age of seventeen,
he moved from Le Havre to Paris,

accompanied by friends
and fellow art students

Othon Friesz and Raoul Dufy.

In Paris he completed his apprenticeship
as a decorator

and was awarded his certificate
of competence in 1902.

Between 1902 and 1904,
with funding from his parents,

he attended the Académie Humbert.

Together with his fellow artist
Francis Picabia

he developed an interest in Impressionism,

particularly the work of Alfred Sisley.

But in 1905, he visited
the Salon d’Automne in Paris

and saw the violent explosion
of arbitrary colour

in the room occupied by the paintings
of Henri Matisse, André Derain

and others of the group nicknamed
Les Fauves, the Wild Beasts.

As a consequence, Braque, and friends
Raoul Dufy and Othon Friesz,

began to move away
from Impressionist ideas

and adopted the bold colour schemes
and compositional structures

they had seen in Matisse’s paintings.

Although, there’s was a slightly
more subdued version of the Fauvist style.

In May 1906, Braque successfully
exhibited his Fauve works

in the Salon des Indépendants.

But his work was beginning to change

as he came under the strong influence
of Paul Cézanne.

Later in 1906, Braque traveled with Friesz
to paint in Antwerp in Belgium,

and to the French Mediterranean
coast near Marseille.

In 1907, Braque was introduced
by Guillaume Apollinaire,

the French poet and writer,

to Pablo Picasso who invited him
to visit his studio.

Braque was profoundly
affected by the visit,

especially when he saw
Picasso's innovative work

- Les Demoiselles d'Avignon.

It soon became clear

there was an immediate affinity
between the two artists

and an intimate friendship
and artistic camaraderie soon followed.

They collaborated closely,

exchanging ideas almost daily

and frequently commenting
on each other’s work.

It is impossible to say which of the two

was the principal inventor
of the new revolutionary style of painting

which later became known as Cubism.

It was Picasso who provided,

with his Les Demoiselles d'Avignon
painting,

the first liberating shock.

But it was Braque, largely because
of his admiration for Cézanne,

who provided much of the early tendency
toward geometric forms.

Between them they developed the ideas

that drove the development
of this new artistic style.

While their paintings shared
many similarities at this time,

in terms of their colour palette,
style, and subject matter,

Braque stated that unlike Picasso,

his work was
"devoid of iconological commentary"

and was concerned purely
with pictorial space and composition.

In May 1908, Braque and Picasso
exhibited their Cubist paintings

for the first time,
at the Salon des Indépendants in Paris.

Their work received
mixed reviews from critics

and was denounced by some

because they had challenged
conventional forms of representation,

such as the use of perspective,

which had been the rule
since Renaissance Art.

Others realised they had developed
a new way of seeing

and an art that reflected the modern age.

During the summer of 1908
Braque created paintings near Marseille

which showed his determination
to break imagery into dissected parts.

The slab volumes, sober colouring
and warped perspective

in his paintings from this period,

are typical of the first part
of what is now called

the Analytical Phase of Cubism.

These radical works wee rejected
by the Salon d'Automne in 1908,

but in the autumn,
Braque showed his paintings

at the Kahnweiler Gallery in Paris

which prompted the Paris art critic
Louis Vauxcelles to make his remark

about "cubes" which would give
this style of painting its name.

From 1909 onwards, Braque
worked closely alongside Picasso

continually developing Cubism,

but Braque's work gradually bega
to develop its own distinctive style,

which tended to combine elements
of still life and landscape.

Whereas Picasso's work often explored

the relationship between figures
and various objects, such as guitars.

In 1911, Braque and Picasso
spent the summer together

in the French Pyrenees,
painting side by side.

They produced works

that were virtually impossible
to distinguish from each other

in terms of style.

Traditional perspective
had been eliminated,

resulting in canvases whose subjects
were so broken apart

that it was almost impossible
to perceive them.

This format breakdown of forms and space,

coupled with a shockingly subdued palette,

created an almost abstract art
unlike anything seen before.

This period was the pinnacle
of Analytical Cubism.

In 1911, Picasso introduced Braque
to the model Marcelle Lapré.

They soon fell in love
and were married the following year.

Soon after they moved
to the small town of Sorgues,

near Avignon, in south-eastern France.

It was in 912, that Braque and Picasso
developed Cubism further

into what is now known
as its Synthetic stage.

It was during this year
that Braque created

what is generally considered
his first paper collage,

by attaching three pieces of wallpaper
to the drawing "Fruit Dish and Glass".

Subject matter became more central,
more important,

with less emphasis on contrasting planes.

They explored new techniques,
such as collage

and incorporated letters,
newspaper and even playing cards

into their work.

He also began to mix
sand and sawdust with his paint

to create textural effects
on his canvases.

These ideas began to suggest the idea

that a picture is not
an illusionist representation,

but rather an autonomous object
in its own right.

At the start of World War I in 1914,
Braque served in the French army

and was decorated twice that year
for bravery.

In 1915, he suffered serious head wound,

which required a trepanation to cure

and resulted in several months
in the hospital,

and a long period of convalescence
at his home in Sorgues.

During his recovery, he began making notes
and observations alongside his drawings,

In 1917, a collection of these notes
was assembled by his friend,

the poet Pierre Reverdy,

and published in the review Nord-Sud,
as "Thoughts and Reflexions on Painting.

In 1917 he was released
from further military service

and began painting again in the pre-war
Synthetic Cubist stye,

but he never worked with Picasso again.

The following year he began to collaborate
with his friend Juan Gris,

the Spanish-born Cubist painter

whose paintings were also strongly
Synthetic Cubist.

But is wasn't long before Braque
began to move away

from the strictures of the austere
geometry of Cubism,

towards looser drawing
and freer brushwork,

as can be seen in this painting
"Still Life with Playing Cards",

From this point onwards,
Braque's work ceased to evolve

in the methodical way it has done
during the successive phases of Cubism

before World War I.

Instead, Braque's work developed
into a series of personal interpretations

based on the stylistic possibilities
that Cubism had suggested.

By the early 1920s, Braque had become
a prosperous, established modern painter

who moved in the well-to-do,
cultured circles

of post-war French society.

He worked most of the time in Paris,
in his studio in Montmartre

and later, in 1922, in Montparnasse,

Also, in 1922, he had a successful
solo exhibition in Paris,

which not only brought attention
to his own work,

but showcased his developments
in terms of colour and collage.

From 1922 to about 1926, Braque's work
became more representational.

He painted a series of paintings based
around the idea of ancient Greek maidens

carrying baskets of sacred objects
to be used at feasts for the gods.

Another series explored the idea
of fireplaces and mantelpieces

laden with fruit
and sometimes guitars.

In 1925, Braque painted
"Fruit on a Tablecloth with a Fruit Dish",

which commemorated a banquet

which had been held in his honour,

when he had returned from the war.

The painting shows a table flattened out
in the pictorial plane,

replicating the texture of wood and marble

with Cezanne-like structure
and colouring of the fruit.

Also, in 1925, Braque moved
into a new house

on the Left Bank in Paris,

designed for him by the modern architect
Auguste Perret.

And later that year
he received a commission

from Serge Diaghilev,
the great ballet impresario,

to design stage sets for the Ballet Russe

In 1931, Braque received
the Legion of Honour,

a prestigious award
from the French government.

for his contributions to art.

Later in the 1930s, he began
a series of figure paintings

examples being "Le Duo"
and "The Painter and his Model".

Unlike his contemporaries
Picasso and Matisse

Braque had abandoned the idea
of working from a live model.

His paintings, therefore, are imaginary

and the goaty bearded painter
depicted in this work

bears no physical resemblance
to Braque himself.

In 1937, Braque won the first prize
of 1000 dollars

at the Carnegie Awards in New York

for his painting "The Yellow Napkin".

The grim events leading
to the Second World War

had a profound effect on Braque

and during this period skulls often appear
in his still life paintings.

Works from this time appear
to exsude a sense of darkness,

despair, agony and misery.

And seem to make political statement.

The painting "Baluster and Skull"
is a fine example,

where colours replicate
the complex emotions and reactions

to impeding war.

Braque lived in Paris during World War II
but continued exploring still life themes,

with sombre colour schemes,

despite the difficult
conditions round him.

After the war, Braque resumed his practice
of executing a series of paintings

on a single subject or theme.

such as birds, landscapes,
and scenes of the sea.

Between 1948-1955, he produced
a series of nine canvases,

entitled "Atelier" or "Studio",

depicting imagery
which sought to represent

the artist's inner thoughts
about particular objects.

The bird symbol frequently appears
in these and later works

usually as a metaphor
for freedom and space.

The paintings often depicted
a picture within a picture

and were altogether more personal,

decorative, and more richly coloured
than his pre-war paintings.

In 1948, he won the first prize
at the Venice Biennale

and had his first retrospective exhibition

at the Museum of Modern Art,
in New York in 1949

and the Tate Gallery in London in 1956.

In 1949 he was asked to paint panels
for a ceiling of the Henri II room

in the prestigious Louvre Museum in Paris.

The ceiling is very ornate

and posed significant
design issues for Braque,

but he solved the problem

by producing designs
that had a powerful simplicity

using the imagery of birds
painted in basic flat colours.

In 1956, his design
for a stained-glass window

on the theme of te Tree of Jesse
for the church of Saint-Valery

de Varengeville-sur-Mer
was installed.

That year he was also awarded
the Grand Prix for painting

at the Venice Biennale,

one of the most prestigious awards
in the art world.

In the early 1960's he designed
three stained-glass windows

and gifted them
to the Chapel Saint-Dominique,

also in Varengeville.

In 1961, on the occasion
of his 80th birthday,

his studio was taken down
and rebuilt in its entirety

in the Louvre's Mollien Gallery,

a previously unheard-of honour
for a living artist.

Georges Braque died on 31st Augut, 1963,

in his studio home
on the Left Bank in Paris.

He was 81 years old.

He was buried in the graveyard
of Saint-Valery de Varengeville-sur-Mer,

which has beautiful views
overlooking the English Channel.

Georges Braque was a quiet, introvert,
extremely observant, sharp, determined,

and a very intelligent man.

His contribution to art,

particularly his role
in the development of Cubism

was profound, as was his innovative use
of materials and techniques,

as well as his willingness to challenge
traditional ideas about art.

His achievements made him
one of the most influential artists

of the 20th century.

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