Georges Braque

Paul Rosenberg Gallery, New York
Mr & Mrs H. Gates Lloyd, Washington, D.C. (acquired from the above in 1944; sale: Sotheby's, New York, 12th May 1994, lot 202)
Private Collection (purchased at the above sale)
Acquired by the present owner by the late 1990s

Philadelphia, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Selected Works from the Collection of Mr and Mrs H. Gates Lloyd, 1987, no. 10

Georges Isarlov, Georges Braque, Paris, 1932, no. 496
'Georges Braque', Cahiers d'Art, Paris, 1933, illustrated p. 71
Galerie Maeght (ed.), Catalogue de l'œuvre de Georges Braque, Peintures 1928-1935, Paris, 1962, illustrated p. 28
Massimo Carrà, Tout l'œuvre peint de Braque, 1908-1929, Milan, 1971, no. 412, illustrated p. 103

The canvas is not lined. Apart from a possible speck of retouching visible under UV light within the tablecloth towards the centre of the right edge and some surface dirt, this work is in very good condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate in the printed catalogue, although the greens are brighter in the original.
"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."

Employing the traditional subject matter of the still life, Pichet, Poire Coupée, Verre is a fresh and unique interpretation of the theme. The intense palette in the middle foreground is contrasted with the vivid tones of yellow, greens, and blues in the background creating a wonderfully dynamic surface.  These illuminating tones serve to enhance the pitcher and pear at centre and extend into the background, creating 'surface movement that works against the illusion of depth, a lateral effect that Braque reinforces by frequently adopting a horizontally drawn-out format for his pictures between 1920 and 1930' (Bernard Zurcher, Georges Braque, Life and Work, New York, p. 138). Indicating the importance of these intense visual effects, Braque states that 'light should be created like everything else. If you take light into account, you have to pay attention to the way things look because there is a superimposition of facts, the mind can only penetrate simple facts...I said that colour absorbs or is absorbed, which allows me to maintain my local tone while only varying the area' (ibid., p. 135).

Pivotal in Braque and Picasso's development of Cubism was Cézanne's retrospective held at the Salon d'Automne in Paris in 1907. Central to the advent of the movement was Cézanne's specific modulation of forms and the expansion of colour, revolutionising the limits of representation on a two-dimensional surface. Bernard Zurcher describes one of Braque's iconic works as a 'chaotic mass of tangled planes which breaks the objects while linking them together at the centre of a network or ribs that penetrate, as it were, the image of Gothic architecture' (ibid., p. 97). The present work brilliantly exemplifies Braque's pre-eminent artistic concern to render the tactile sense of space in order to reach the essential sensations of art and vision. As the artist himself notes: 'There is in nature a tactile space. I might almost say a manual space...This is the space that fascinates me so much, because that is what early Cubist painting was, a research into space' (quoted in John Golding, Braque, Still-lifes and Interiors, London, 1990, p. 9).