Georges, Braque, Black bird on green background, 1962
1962
Original color woodcut in large margins on pure wove paper for Si je mourais là-bas by Guillaume Apollinaire, Paris, Louis Broder éditeur, 1962
73.1 x 47 cm
Numbered in pencil lower left, signed by the artist in pencil lower right
Tirage Féquet et Baudier, Paris
Catalogue raisonné : Vallier 181
Very early in his work, around 1929, Georges Braque used the “bird” motif. A recurring theme right up to the end of his life, it may be thought that the artist was seeking to represent lightness, freedom and escape. Always using the woodcut technique,
Here, the black bird seems to be flying over a green plain.
About the author
Georges Braque (1882-1963)
The creator of Cubism with Pablo Picasso around 1907, after the First World War he adopted a more traditional aesthetic with a fairly dark color palette. Still lifes and landscapes are bathed in a calm, silent atmosphere. Georges Braque was also a painter of birds, which figured prominently in his late work. In 1953, they were given pride of place on the ceiling of the Salle Henri II at the Louvre. A close friend of poets such as René Char, Francis Ponge and Pierre Reverdy, Georges Braque illustrated numerous texts.
