Georges Braque

Along with Picasso, Braque is the creator of Cubism. Pablo came to refer to their collaboration as a two-person rope team since the discoveries of one served as an element of improvement for the other. However, the man from Málaga has always taken the credit for initiating the artistic movement due to the excellent propaganda that his friends and publicists conducted on his behalf. Braque was a student of Charles Lhullier at the School of Fine Arts in Le Havre, where he had come into contact with Dufy and Friesz. He soon reacted against academicism, becoming interested in Cézanne's painting and converting to Fauvism in 1905, thanks to his contact with Othon Friesz. After meeting Picasso, the collaboration between the two began, giving rise to Cubism. In both analytical Cubism (1908-1911) and synthetic Cubism (1912-1914), still lifes become their protagonists: Still Life with Musical Instruments (1908), The Small Round Table (1911), The Musician's Table (1913), Glass and Violin (1913-1914), etc. He will incorporate painted words into his paintings from 1911 onwards, which led to Picasso's introduction of collage the following year. This new pictorial technique would interest Georges extraordinarily. In 1914 he participated in the First World War, falling seriously wounded. After the First World War, Braque does not abandon the structural direction of Cubism although he gives more importance to figuration and his still lifes, starting from a new classical restraint that occasionally shows decorativism. It is the period when he finds great inspiration in the Greek world of Classicism, as in his Canéphoras (women carrying fruit, 1923-1926), it is also the moment of still lifes of the Guéridon type, that is, still lifes on a round table or side table still lifes (1926-1930), from the series The Small Chimneys (1919-1927). After the nineteen-forties, new scenarios appear such as interiors, sunsets over the sea, the flight of birds, etc. with a specific key and meaning. From 1948 to 1955 the famous series of Studios occurs, followed from 1955 to 1963 by that of the Birds. It should also be noted his foray into the sculptural field with works in bronze such as Horse and Plow (1939-1940), Horse's Head (1941-1942) and his work in the technique of engraving, especially in Hesiod's Theogony.