Georges Braque

Alphonse Kann, Paris

Confiscated by Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (circa June-November 1940)

Gustav Rochlitz, Hans Wendland and Zacharias Birtschansky (acquired from the above by exchange, 3 March 1941)

Theodor Fischer, Lucerne (acquired from the above via Hans Wendland and Bernhard A. Böhmer by exchange and taken to Switzerland by Böhmer on 4 October 1941)

Dr. Willi Raeber, Basel (acquired from the above, 16 March 1942)

Galerie Rosengart, Lucerne (acquired from the above, April 1942)

Dr. Fritz Heer, Zurich (acquired from the above)

Restituted to the executors of Alphonse Kann's estate, London (7 July 1949)

Dalzell Hatfield Gallery, Los Angeles

Alex and Rita K. Hillman, New York (acquired from the above, 1951)

The Alex Hillman Family Foundation (a gift from the above 16 October 1968 and sold: Christie's, New York, November 05, 2008, lot 12)

Acquired at the above sale

 

New York, Paul Rosenberg Gallery Inc., Collectors' Choice: Masterpieces of French Art from New York Private Collections, 1953, no. 14

New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Modern European Paintings from New York's Private Collections, Summer Loan Exhibition, 1956-67

New York, Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Federation of Jewish Philanthropies Exhibition, 1957

New York, Perls Galleries, Georges Braque, 1882-1963, An American Tribute, 1964, no. 27

New York, M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., The Protean Century, 1870-1970, for the Benefit of the Hopkins Center Art Gallery, Dartmouth College, 1970, no. 8, illustrated in color in the catalogue

New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Summer Loan Exhibition: Paintings from New York Collections. Collection of Mrs. Alex Hillman and the Alex Hillman Family Foundation, 1971, no. 2

New York, Bronx Museum of the Arts, Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture from the Alex Hillman Family Foundation, 1972

Laramie, University of Wyoming Art Center, The Hillman Collection, 1972

Phoenix, Art Museum, Selections from the Alex Hillman Collection, 1975

Roslyn, Nassau County Museum of Fine Arts, Modern Masters: Paintings and Drawings from the Alex Hillman Family Foundation, 1977-78, no. 2

Austin, University of Texas; Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Museum of Art; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Museum of Art; Huntsville, Museum of Art; St. Petersburg, Museum of Art; Lawrence, Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas; Little Rock, Arkansas Art Center; Williamsburg, Joseph and Margaret Muscarelle Museum of Art, College of William and Mary & Ames, Brunnier Gallery and Museum, Iowa State University, Selections from the Collection of the Alex Hillman Family Foundation, 1979-85

Hartford, Joseloff Gallery, Hartford Art School, Modern Masters from the Collection of a New York Foundation, 1981

New York, The Brooklyn Museum, Exhibition of Works from the Alex Hillman Family Foundation, 1986-87

New York, The Brooklyn Museum, Modern Masters: French Art from the Alex Hillman Family Foundation Collection, 1988

Georges Isarlov, Catalogue des oeuvres de Georges Braque, Paris, 1932, no. 448.

C. Virch, 'The Annual Summer Loan Exhibition,' in Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Summer 1967, p. 31 (illustrated).

Galerie Maeght, ed., Catalogue de l'oeuvre de Georges Braque, Peintures 1924-1927, Paris, no. 102 (illustrated).

M. Valsecchi and M. Carrà, L'opera completa di Braque, Milan, 1971, no. 367 (illustrated).

Emily Braun, Manet to Matisse: The Hillman Family Collection, Seattle & London, 1994, p. 38, no. 3 (illustrated in color, p. 39).

Very good condition. The panel appears stable and the pigment is intact. There is some vertical cracking of the paint in the lower-right quadrant. Under UV, there is line of retouching in and below the white element (napkin) on the right side, and there is a circular area of retouching and two thin lines at the top edge towards the right side.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The still-life was a theme to which Braque returned consistently throughout his long and productive career. In every phase, beginning with the Cubist period and culminating in the majestic interiors of his last years, Braque found the arrangement of a limited number of objects on a table-top or in an interior to be the most appropriate subject for his investigations of the formal and tactile qualities of painting. In the decades following the invention of Cubism, Braque continued to refine and re-examine the expressive possibilities of his still-lifes, always creating innovative ways to represent common objects.

Painted in 1927, Nature morte à la corbeille de fruits epitomizes the 'transparent' aesthetic that would define Braque's work for the next decade. Elements of the composition overlap with varying degrees of transparency, creating an illusion of recession and depth. The dimensionality of the picture is further enhanced by Braque's choice of color. He limits his palette in a manner that focuses the eye on the bowl of fruit at the center of the panel. Still-lifes feature prominently in Braque's and Picasso's early Synthetic works and were a link with high Baroque still-lifes, such as those painted by Caravaggio. Braque's historical appropriations and experiments with formal transparency would have a profound effect on the work of his fellow painters, most notably in Picasso's still-lifes painted in the 1930s.