.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
'Beginning in mid-1918, Braque worked on a much larger scale than before and concentrated on still-life subjects. He found a freer and more masterly way of handling form and space in compositions, which were no longer executed in a strictly "synthetic" Cubist style, but were characterised by large forms, an overall looseness and a richer, more varied palette of colours used, as a rule, descriptively. This reveals an attempt on the part of Braque to "humanise" his style, so that although the forms are still Cubist in derivation, they correspond more nearly with known appearances' (D. Cooper & G. Tinterow, The Essential Cubism 1907-1920, London, 1983, p. 118).
Discussing his inspiration, Braque told a radio interviewer in 1950: 'One begins to paint under the impulsion of an idea. Something happens first in one's head before it begins to happen before one's eyes. An idea takes shape, do you see. But, as one goes on working, the picture itself takes over. That is to say, there is a tussle between the idea - the picture as it is conceived in advance - and the picture which fights for its own life. It is this conflict which creates that vital tension that gives life to a picture' (quoted in D. Cooper, Braque: The Great Years, Chicago, 1972, p. 45).
Discussing his inspiration, Braque told a radio interviewer in 1950: 'One begins to paint under the impulsion of an idea. Something happens first in one's head before it begins to happen before one's eyes. An idea takes shape, do you see. But, as one goes on working, the picture itself takes over. That is to say, there is a tussle between the idea - the picture as it is conceived in advance - and the picture which fights for its own life. It is this conflict which creates that vital tension that gives life to a picture' (quoted in D. Cooper, Braque: The Great Years, Chicago, 1972, p. 45).