Lot 350
  • 350

Georges Braque

Estimate
180,000 - 250,000 GBP
bidding is closed

Description

  • Georges Braque
  • Fruits, cruche et pipe
  • signed G Braque (lower right)
  • oil on panel
  • 42.5 by 59.5cm., 16 3/4 by 23 1/2 in.

Provenance

Mr & Mrs Cummins Catherwood, Pennsylvania
Galerie D. Benador, Geneva
Private Collection, Europe (acquired circa 1965; sale: Christie's, London, 25th June 2008, lot 469)
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Exhibited

Paris, Galerie Charpentier, Nature Mortes Françaises, 1951
Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia Collects 20th Century, 1963

Literature

George Isarlov, Catalogue des œuvres de Georges Braque, Paris, 1932, no. 349
John Russell, Braque, London, 1959, illustrated pl. 34
Galerie Maeght (ed.), Catalogue de l'œuvre de Georges Braque, Peintures 1924-1927, Paris, 1968, n.n., illustrated p. 14
Massimo Carrà, Tout l'œuvre peint de Braque, 1908-1929, Paris, 1973, no. 217, illustrated p. 96

Condition

Oil on cradled panel; the panel is sound. There is a milky varnish preventing UV light from fully penetrating, however examination under UV reveals no signs of retouching. There are a few intermittent pinholes along the edges. There are several horizontal hairline cracks in the support, entirely stable, and there are a few scattered scuffs along the extreme edges. This work is in overall good condition.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

Fruits, cruche et pipe is a fine example of Braque's renewed interest in traditional themes and methods of representation in the mid-1920s. His related paintings are figurative and restrained, and so extraordinary was the change in his style that modern scholars have linked it not only to the art of Cézanne, but also that of Chardin and Le Nain. During this period Braque painted several still life compositions against brown and black backgrounds, many featuring bisected objects such as the pitcher in the present work. Though more representational in nature, these images still reveal the preoccupation with painterly structure that characterised his earlier Cubist œuvre. As he later said, 'Objects don't exist for me except in so far as a rapport exists between them or between them and myself. When one attains this harmony one reaches a sort of intellectual non-existence—what I can only describe as a state of peace—which make everything possible and right. Life then becomes a perpetual revelation. That is true poetry' (quoted in John Richardson, Georges Braque, London, 1959, p. 27).