Georges Braque (1882-1963)
Biography
Georges Braque was raised in Le Havre and was meant to follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather to become a decorator. However, from 1897-1899 he began studying painting in the evenings at the Ecole de Beaux-Arts in Le Havre. Soon thereafter, he moved to Paris settling in Montmartre where he met the art world luminaries that he would be associated with for the rest of his life: Pablo Picasso, Marie Laurencin, Francis Picabia, Raoul Dufy, Othon Friesz, and Fernand Mourlot.
Like many young painters residing in Paris in the early 20th Century, Braque was deeply influenced by the exhibition of Paul Cezanne's work shortly after his death at the Salon d'Automne in 1907. After seeing this exhibition, Braque's work began its evolution into Cubism. In 1909 he began working closely with Picasso and the philosophy of Cubism, depicting a subject from multiple viewpoints on a two-dimensional canvas, became solidified.
Towards the end of the 1920's, Braque's work became freer and less structured, however his work always retained echoes of his Cubist past. Undeniably, Braque's collaboration with Picasso and co-founding of Cubism is his greatest contribution to and one of the most influential events in the history of art.