Georges Braque

Happy Birthday Georges Braque!! Born in France in 1882, Georges Braque was an apprentice in a decorator’s business and began painting with the Fauves in 1906. He met Picasso and together they developed a new way of seeing and painting; Cubism. The two artists worked so closely together, often painting the same subjects, that even they had a difficult time remembering who had painted which painting! He continued to work in this mode with Picasso until 1914 when WWI broke out and the collaboration came to an end when Braque went to fight in the war. Unsuccessful in pursuing the style, Braque turned to more traditional still life and figure compositions in the early 1920’s. He also worked a bit in sculpture. The painting below is Still Life with Violin.

Cubism-Art movement developed by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. The artists attempted to show their subjects from all views by flattening the figures and objects into basic geometric shapes (hence the name Cubism). The palette was primarily browns, gold, grey, monochrome tones.