GEORGES BRAQUE, Verre et Compotier, 1931

The title of this work indicates the presence of two, central figurative elements, which are relatively identifiable despite not being realistic. On a dark brown table, a fruit bowl is seen both from above and in profile, with a glass also placed behind it. The background is the same colour as the table, added to by several thick, black, vertical strips.

The colour scheme relies on a contrast between light and dark. The forms in the foreground come across as mostly light; Braque uses white, several shades of grey, light pink (for the fruit bowl and on the table) and bright beige. These latter two shades bring a luminosity to the objects, which focusses our attention on them; this effect is accentuated by the contrast created with the dark tones of both the background and the table. Apart from those lightly filled areas of pink, the chromatic aspect of this painting lies largely in restrained, pared-down colouring; we do not get much colour, quite the opposite. Such limiting of colour is also apparent in other works Braque completed during the same period.

The forms themselves are surrounded by unmistakeable white and black lines painted on with a brush. This is the case around the fruit bowl, the glass and the table. These lines, though, seem to pervade the canvas’ space without necessarily carrying a specific function or representing any one thing. From there, they become a web of curves and counter-curves which spread across the entire surface, giving it a decorative and enigmatic feel. Certainly, it is possible that they are supposed to be some plant: a stem or vine or long, thin branches. However, in this painting, the visibility of the artist’s strokes and the freedom of expression he uses likely prevent the creation of such an illusionist outlook. The viewer is instead reminded of the flat, two-dimensionality of the painting. This use of curved lines and the arrangement of block colours in their own, uniform segments becomes more important to the work than the actual still life that it represents. The work’s make-up, on an artistic and textural level, is no longer just a means to an end (that end being the creation of a figurative image). Rather, that process itself becomes the painting’s very subject.

Contrary to the opinion of many art historians, we see that Georges Braque is, above all, a modern artist, not a Classical one.

Georges Braque’s Post Cubist Masterpieces, Anthem Edition, 2024.