Georges Braque (French, 1882–1963) once confessed the urge "to touch a thing and not merely see it,” an impulse that drove his career-long exploration of what he called “tactile space.” Defined by the artist as “the space that separates us from objects, as opposed to visual space, which separates objects from one another,” tactile space was the basis of experiments Braque undertook with Pablo Picasso in the early twentieth century. Their collaboration led to the development of what became known as Cubism, a style characterized by the compression of multiple perspectives, the addition of collaged elements (papier collé), and the breakdown of forms into geometric shapes. For Braque, these strategies enabled him “to get as close as possible to the objects as the painting allowed.”

Georges Braque: Tactile Space traces how Braque’s approaches to tactility, materiality, and space developed during his Cubist years (1908–1914) evolved over the next five decades. Expanding Cubism's shift away from traditional illusions of depth, Braque incorporated materials like sand into his pigments, applying them with visible brushstrokes to place greater emphasis on the painted surface. He also exaggerated the dimensions of his canvases, superimposed patterns and textures, and dramatically uptilted perspectives to activate the spaces of his compositions and extend them into the viewer’s own. Braque translated these techniques into bronze, exploring his fragmentation of the painted surface in three dimensions.

Drawn entirely from the Régis Krampf Collection, this selection of works—many never before exhibited—reveals how Braque anticipated and even originated the preoccupation with surface and space that came to define twentieth- and twenty-first century art.

Georges Braque: Tactile Space is organized by the Bruce Museum and curated by Jordan Hillman, Assistant Curator of Art.
Bruce Museum, 1 Museum Dr, Greenwich, CT 06830, United States of America