Laurens was largely self-taught as an artist and took up sculpture after working with a decorative stone-mason. He met Braque in 1911, and by 1915 he was friendly with Picasso and Gris. His first cubist constructions date from this period. His background as a craftsman led him to prefer an elaborate and "well-made" look in his work which was not characteristic of Picasso's more roughly-built constructions. The planar surface on a Laurens sculpture is always clearly articulated, and his works in three-dimensions form a counterpart to the synthetic Cubism of Gris. Following the example of his cubist friends, Laurens created many papier collés in which he worked with bolder and more simple forms than Picasso or Braque. These works led directly to the series of carved and painted reliefs the sculptor began making in 1918.