Georges, Braque, Si je mourais là-bas (p.47), 1962
1962
Original woodcut in color on Japon paper for Si je mourais là-bas by Guillaume Apollinaire, Paris, Louis Broder éditeur, 1962
47.1 x 37.1 cm
Numbered in pencil lower left on X, signed by the artist in pencil lower right
Edition Féquet et Baudier, Paris
catalog raisonné : Vallier 181
Louise de Coligny-Châtillon was one of France’s first female aviators. For less than a year, she was the object of Guillaume Apollinaire’s mad love, inspiring him to write Poèmes à Lou.
This profile of a queen, transposed by Georges Braque in woodcut on a royal blue background, illustrates the author’s love for this young woman. The crowned head seems to gaze tenderly at her chosen one. In contrast to the painting The Two Birdscreated for a ceiling in the Louvre, where Braque surrounded two black birds with a thick white line, the profile is surrounded by a black line.
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.
