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Georges Braque: A Life
A full-length portrait of the pioneering founder of Cubism places his life against a backdrop of twentieth-century art, covering such topics as his role in bringing about a revolutionary way of seeing, his creative partnership with Picasso, and his boundary-pushing artistic achievements. 12,500 first printing.
456 pages, Hardcover
First published May 31, 2005
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About the author
Alex Danchev
40 books19 followersAlex Danchev was Professor of International Relations at the University of Nottingham, and a long-standing friend of the Tate in London, where he has been a member of the Acquisition Committee of the Patrons of New Art.
His interests wandered across the borders of art, politics, and military history although his focus is chiefly biographical.
His biography of the philosopher-statesman Oliver Franks (Oxford University Press, 1993) was on the Observer's 'Books of the Year' and his biography of the military writer Basil Liddell Hart (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1998) was listed for the Whitbread Prize for Biography and the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction.
His unexpurgated edition of the Alanbrooke Diaries (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2001) was listed for the W.H. Smith Prize for Biography. In 2009 he published On Art and War and Terror, a collection of essays on the most difficult issues of our age and, in particular, the nature of humanity in times of conflict.
His interests wandered across the borders of art, politics, and military history although his focus is chiefly biographical.
His biography of the philosopher-statesman Oliver Franks (Oxford University Press, 1993) was on the Observer's 'Books of the Year' and his biography of the military writer Basil Liddell Hart (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1998) was listed for the Whitbread Prize for Biography and the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction.
His unexpurgated edition of the Alanbrooke Diaries (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2001) was listed for the W.H. Smith Prize for Biography. In 2009 he published On Art and War and Terror, a collection of essays on the most difficult issues of our age and, in particular, the nature of humanity in times of conflict.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 5, 2019
This biography of Georges Braque is very interesting - in part because it reveals another painter’s insecurity. That painter is Picasso. While the author’s focus is firmly on Braque, Picasso inevitably intrudes because 1. The two painters developed Cubism together, and 2. Picasso seemed always to want to know what Braque was up to. Yet, at the same time, Picasso was telling the story that after working so closely with Braque, he never saw him again after he bid farewell to the other at the train station as Braque rode off to battle in WWI. Not true!
As I said, the focus is on Braque. The reader receives a real sense of the milieu that Braque grew up in and the effect that had on his artistic development. His relationships with other artists are well described. The book provides a clear sense of how Braque skillfully survived the Nazi Occupation. He was at risk as an artist considered “degenerate” by the Nazis. He behaved better than some and at the end of the war his integrity was intact.
As I said, the focus is on Braque. The reader receives a real sense of the milieu that Braque grew up in and the effect that had on his artistic development. His relationships with other artists are well described. The book provides a clear sense of how Braque skillfully survived the Nazi Occupation. He was at risk as an artist considered “degenerate” by the Nazis. He behaved better than some and at the end of the war his integrity was intact.
December 17, 2012
"I prefer the man to the artist. Cézanne was not an artist, but Manet was. If you follow me." - Braque (epigraph)
"Georges Braque is the third man of modern art. Picasso has an image, a person, a legend. Matisse too. Braque seems immune to such treatment, unclassified. His work is his own, 'a new continent bearing no other name than that of its creator'." p. 270
"Georges Braque followed no one, he insisted, except perhaps Cézanne. Braque le solitaire was not a joiner. When others joined him, it was time to move on." p. 225
"Braque, you said to me, once, a long time ago, meeting me out walking with a girl whose beauty one would call classical, that found very pretty: 'In love you haven't yet detached yourself enough from the masters.' In any case I can still say to you today: I love you, you see that I still cannot detach myself." - Picasso, pg. 259
"His final palette:
raw umber
burnt umber
raw sienna
burnt sienna
yellow ochre
lamp black
vine black
bone black
ultramarine
orange-yellow
antimony yellow" p. 279
"One must not imitate what one wishes to create." p.282
"Georges Braque is the third man of modern art. Picasso has an image, a person, a legend. Matisse too. Braque seems immune to such treatment, unclassified. His work is his own, 'a new continent bearing no other name than that of its creator'." p. 270
"Georges Braque followed no one, he insisted, except perhaps Cézanne. Braque le solitaire was not a joiner. When others joined him, it was time to move on." p. 225
"Braque, you said to me, once, a long time ago, meeting me out walking with a girl whose beauty one would call classical, that found very pretty: 'In love you haven't yet detached yourself enough from the masters.' In any case I can still say to you today: I love you, you see that I still cannot detach myself." - Picasso, pg. 259
"His final palette:
raw umber
burnt umber
raw sienna
burnt sienna
yellow ochre
lamp black
vine black
bone black
ultramarine
orange-yellow
antimony yellow" p. 279
"One must not imitate what one wishes to create." p.282
July 2, 2023
Danchev has done a masterful job of bringing us Braque. His careful weaving of an immense amount of research, making the life of a reticent craftsman interesting, is a biographical masterpiece. Unfortunately, Braque is as well-known as the dark side of the moon to most of us.
Robert Hughes, to me the premiere art critic of the twentieth century, called Braque
Braque was phenomenallyinfluential, but the limelight was all Picasso's. But instead of envy, or outrage, we get a picture of Braque the craftsman carefully continuing on with his work, even getting to decorate a ceiling in the Louvre.
Here's what the novelist, Blaise Cendrars said to Braque's wife about his work:
Robert Hughes, to me the premiere art critic of the twentieth century, called Braque
"the greatest formal artist of the twentieth century."
Braque was phenomenallyinfluential, but the limelight was all Picasso's. But instead of envy, or outrage, we get a picture of Braque the craftsman carefully continuing on with his work, even getting to decorate a ceiling in the Louvre.
Here's what the novelist, Blaise Cendrars said to Braque's wife about his work:
"Every one of M. Braque’s canvases is at once a discourse, a panegyric, and an oration."
January 12, 2021
Perhaps it's a reflection of George's Braque's character, but this is a good natured, friendly biography, which leaves one feeling a fondness and respect for its subject.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews