Braque, Georges

Braque, Georges (1882-1963), French painter, who, with Pablo Picasso, was instrumental in developing Cubism. As such he was a major figure in 20th-century art.

Braque was born on May 13, 1882, in Argenteuil-sur-Seine, near Paris; he grew up there and in Le Havre on the coast of Normandy. He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and around 1905 began to paint in the manner of the Fauves, who used pure, brilliant colours in loosely structured compositions.

By 1908, however, Braque had shifted his attention to the paintings of Paul Cézanne. Braque's interest in Cézanne's strangely distorted forms and unconventional perspective led him to paint in the manner that came to be called Cubist. Between 1908 and 1913 Braque conducted an intense study of the effects of light and perspective, and the means by which painters represented those effects. He seemed to question most standard artistic conventions. In his village scenes, for example, Braque frequently reduced an architectural structure to a geometric form approximating a cube—or, more precisely, a rectangular prism—yet used shading to contradict its volume; objects could thus be seen both as flat and three-dimensional. In this way Braque called attention to the very nature of perception and artistic representation.

Picasso, with whom Braque began to work closely in 1909, had been developing a similar approach to painting. From about 1910 to 1912, both artists produced paintings in which neutral tones describe complex patterns of faceted form, now called Analytical Cubism. The style is exemplified in Braque's Violin and Pitcher (1910, Kunstmuseum, Basel). Both artists also began to experiment with collage, a technique of constructing an image from such everyday materials as newspapers, labels, and pieces of fabric. The fertile collaboration between Braque and Picasso continued until 1914, when Braque enlisted in the French army. He was severely wounded in World War I and in 1917 resumed his artistic career alone.

After the war, Braque developed a more personal style, characterized by brilliant colour and textured surfaces and, following his move to the Normandy coast, the reappearance of the human figure. During this time, he painted many still lifes and beach scenes. He continued to work throughout his life, producing a considerable number of distinguished paintings, graphics, and sculptures, all imbued with a pervasive contemplative quality. He died in Paris on August 31, 1963.