Georges Braque – L’oiseau Multicolore

Description

Georges Braque, L’oiseau Multicolore 1950 is an original color etching and aquatint. This print is signed lower right corner and numbered in the lower left corner with pencil. This print is from the Vallier 1020 catalog.

Georges Braque was a French artist and revolutionary at the forefront of the Cubist art movement. Braque’s work throughout his life focused on still lives and means of viewing objects from various perspectives through color, line, and texture. L’oiseau Multicolore was made in 1950 during the later years of his life. Braque died in 1963 in Paris.

From 1902 to 1904 he painted at the Académie Humbert in Paris, where he met Marie Laurencin and Francis Picabia. By 1906 Braque’s work was no longer Impressionist but Fauve in style; after spending that summer in Antwerp with Othon Friesz, he showed his Fauve work the following year in the Salon des Indépendants in Paris. His first solo show was at Daniel-Henri Kahnweiler’s gallery in 1908. From 1909 Pablo Picasso and Braque worked together in developing Cubism; by 1911 their styles were extremely similar. In 1912 they started to incorporate collage elements into their paintings and to experiment with the papier collé (pasted paper) technique. Their artistic collaboration lasted until 1914. Braque served in the French army during World War I and was wounded; upon his recovery in 1917 he began a close friendship with Juan Gris.

After World War I Braque’s work became freer and less schematic. His fame grew in 1922 as a result of an exhibition at the Salon d’Automne in Paris. In the mid-1920s Braque designed the decor for two Sergei Diaghilev ballets. By the end of the decade, he had returned to a more realistic interpretation of nature, although certain aspects of Cubism always remained present in his work. In 1931 Braque made his first engraved plasters and began to portray mythological subjects. His first important retrospective took place in 1933 at the Kunsthalle Basel. He won first prize at the Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, in 1937.

During World War II Braque remained in Paris. His paintings at that time, primarily still lifes and interiors, became more somber. In addition to paintings, Braque also made lithographs, engravings, and sculptures. From the late 1940s he treated various recurring themes such as birds, ateliers, landscapes, and seascapes. In 1954 he designed stained-glass windows for the church of Varengeville.

L’oiseau Multicolore was created during the last few years of his life, Braque’s ill health prevented him from undertaking further large-scale commissions, but he continued to paint, make lithographs, and design jewelry. He died on August 31, 1963, in Paris.

Georges Braque, L’oiseau Multicolore

Georges Braque art for sale

Georges Braque prints for sale