Picasso and Braque: Pioneering Cubism

by William Rubin

Reproduces drawings and paintings by two principal pioneers of cubism and examines the interlocking nature of these works

Genres: Art, Reference

464 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

William Stanley Rubin was an American art scholar and curator and director of the painting and sculpture department at the Museum of Modern Art, New York City.

Reviews

[AC · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richardson's view that Braque and Picasso constructed Analytic Cubism in tandem, like two mountaineers roped to one another (Braque's famous image), flies in the face of the traditional view, which goes back to the writings and private comments of both Apollinaire and Salmon -- both of whom dismissed Braque as essentially a 'second', a 'corroborator', a 'fervent disciple' at best, "mediocre" (Apollinaire) at worst.

This, of course, was not true - for from 1908 till 1912 -- at almost every turn in Analytic Cubism -- it was, in fact, Braque who was out ahead and who led. Or as Robert Hughes puts it: Picasso cleared the ground, Braque built the palace (paraphrase).

This reevaluation of Braque was established by this volume, which is thus an important and seemingly decisive book.

This book is the catalogue of an exhibition put on by the MoMa in the late 1980's; it collects, and places side-by-side the works of Picasso and Braque (from 1906 till the outbreak of the War) in chronological sequence, by motif, by style -- and the point is, I think, proved beyond a doubt. The reproductions are beautiful, nearly 300 pages of full-page color prints.

Braque did not have the genius and virtuosity of Picasso - but like Cézanne, whom he deeply admired, he had the integrity and doggedness, an absolute commitment to the motif -- ("...., talent is out, all that matters is a confrontation with the motif"), that one associates with Cézanne. And he was, indeed, a great artist.

This book was pleasure to browse/read -- while there is some text, the book can be read entirely on the pictorial level, simply by flipping slowly through the prints one-by-one.

[Yoshiyuki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Look at George Braque's Man with a Guitar (1911, Museum of Modern Art, New York) and Pablo Picasso's Woman with a Zither or Guitar (1911-1912, Museum of Modern Art, New York) and his Accordionist (1911, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York) side by side in this exhibition catalogue and then in actual sites is joyful and blissful experience.
I personally evaluate George Braque's year 1911 as is observed in Man with a Guitar is the king of Cubism movement.
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