Artwork information

Category

Print

Technique

Aquatint in colors on Arches wove paper

Date

1955 - 1956

Dimensions

63 cm x 43 cm

Signature

Signed lower right

Proof(s) of authenticity

The owner has the purchase invoice. He acquired this work at auction.

State of conservation

Very good

Framing

Yes

Location

Paris, France

Description

Georges Braque (1882-1963), "Le bouquet rose", circa 1955-1956. Aquatint etching in colors on Arches wove paper printed in the Crommelynck workshop.

Signed in pencil at the bottom right. Edition 120/200 (written at the bottom left). Work framed in a black velvet frame. Dimensions with its frame : 71 x 51,5 cm.

Provenance

For Braque, as for other great artists, such as Matisse or Picasso, there are a certain number of "interpretation" prints, generally made on the initiative of a gallery owner, publisher or printer-engraver, for example Maeght, Mourlot and Crommelynck. Such prints are not made materially by the artist who signs them, but by someone, almost always anonymous, associated with the printer's workshop.

These are usually prints inspired by an existing work of the artist, and they are made under the supervision of the artist, who corrects them, may intervene more or less actively and in any case, approves them by signing them with his hand.

The last part of the catalog raisonné of Dora Vallier consists of a brief "supplementary catalog" presenting a number of these prints, and cites Maeght's description of the procedure, which is very instructive. However, as Vallier points out, this supplementary catalog is not complete. Unfortunately, the "Bouquet rose," which was printed by Crommelynck, is missing. But we can conclude with certainty that it was made under Braque's supervision and close involvement, probably at the initiative of Crommelynck, with whom Braque worked extensively.

Bibliography

Catalog raisonné of Dora Vallier, "Braque The Complete Graphics

The artist

Painter
Drawer
Sculptor

Georges Braque

Famous artistFamous artist
Painter
Drawer
Sculptor
Born in 1882
France

Bio

Georges Braque is the co-founder of the cubist movement at the beginning of the 20th century. He was born on May 13, 1882 in Argenteuil into a family of craftsmen. He grew up in Le Havre where he studied at the École supérieure des Beaux-Arts between 1897 and 1899. Afterwards, Georges Braque started as an apprentice painter decorator with his father.

In 1902, Georges Braque moved to Paris where he studied drawing at the Académie Humbert. In 1905, he paints his first canvases in an impressionist style, then he gets closer to the aesthetics of fauvism with brightly colored compositions. 

In 1907, he meets Pablo Picasso, this totally overturns his style. Very intrigued by Picasso's painting "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon", Georges Braque begins to experiment with the decomposition of figures. It is the beginning of a beautiful friendship and a great collaboration. The two artists found a new pictorial style based on the use of geometric elements: Cubism.

The First World War brutally stops these new artistic impulses, explorations are put aside for a while. Called to the front, Georges Braque was wounded in the head, he did not start painting again until 1917.

He began to practice sculpture and engraving, and gradually moved away from Pablo Picasso to devote himself mainly to still lifes. At the end of his life, Georges Braque turns to the creation of landscapes. He was the first painter to be exhibited in the Louvre during his lifetime. He won the Antonio Feltrinelli Prize at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1959.

Georges Braque died on August 31, 1963 in his Paris apartment at the age of 81.

"Painting is closer and closer to poetry, now that photography has freed it from the need to tell a story." Georges Braque