Georges Braque (1882-1963)

French painter

The French painter Georges Braque was born in Argenteuil-sur-Seine. Braque grew up in Le Havre were he attended evening classes at the Art School and was apprenticed to be an interior decorator. In 1900 he moved to Paris and befriended with Francis Picabia.

Academy

In Paris Georges Braque attended the academy Humbert and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. In 1908 he joined the Fauves. With Othon Friesz he visited Antwerp, where he painted harbor scenes.

Trees near l'Estaque

At the exhibition in the Salon des Indépendants, Guillaume Apollinaire introduced Braque to Pablo Picasso. Together with Pablo Picasso Georges Braque is associated in the creation of cubism.
In 1908 he painted "Trees near l'Estaque". Vauxelles is the first to call Braque's works Cubist. His first solo exhibition at Daniel Henry Kahnweiler's Gallery was held later that year.

Papiers collés

Around 1911 with his "papiers collés" Georges Braque began the second phase of cubism, also called "synthetic" cubism.
At the beginning of the First World War Georges Braque entered military service. In 1917 he met Henri Laurens and Juan Gris.
Georges Braque was involved at the stage set production for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in 1923. Around 1939 Georges Braque produced his first sculptures.

Interiors and still-lifes

During the Second World War Braque principally worked on interiors and still-lifes. In 1945 he decorated the church at Assy. Two years later he commenced his series of studio pictures.

Commissions

In the fifty's Georges Braque painted the ceiling of the Henry II Gallery in the Louvre in Paris and the stained-glass windows for the village church of Varengeville.
Georges Braque died in Paris on 31 August 1963.

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