He was the son of an interior decorator, started to paint while in his teens at Le Havre, then studied in Paris from 1900. No longer satisfied with Impressionism he joined the Fauves in 1904 and exhibited at the Independants. Paintings of this period include Le Port de I'Estaque (1906), La Ciotat (1907); La Femme au Torse nu (1907) and Antwerp Harbour (1906). Othon Friesz accompanied him to Antwerp, and being closely connected with Picasso, they evolved towards Cubism after 1907. The critic Louis Vauxcelles accused Braque of painting "in little cubes", and so the term Cubism was born. Braque's association with Picasso lasted until 1914 but was
destroyed by the war during which Braque was wounded and underwent a brain operation. He had been experimenting with collages since 1912 and, after his recovery, designed sets for Diaghilev's Russian Ballet. He then turned from Fauvism to a more balanced and figurative style; this was his classical period in which he painted nudes and landscapes as well as still-life studies. After 1928 he lived either in Paris or in Varengeville in Normandy; and his most productive period dates from that year: book illustrations, lithographs, and sculpture (after 1939). In 1939 he won the Carnegie Prize and in 1948 the Grand Prix at the Venice Biennale. Lastly, in 1951 he painted the ceiling of the Etruscan Room at the Louvre. An artist of prudence and flair, Braque embodies a spirit of proportion rare in the 20th century. He sought harmony with stylistic nobility and elegance.

Post-Impressionism, Michel-Claude Jalard, Edito Service SA, Geneva