Georges Braque was born on May 13, 1882, in Argenteuil-sur-Seine, France, a locale favored by many Impressionists painters. He received his first lessons in painting from his father--a house decorator and amateur painter. In 1890 the family moved to Le Havre, where Braque would attend evening classes at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts from about 1897 to 1899. At the age of 19, he left for Paris to get his craftsman certificate.
From 1902 to 1904, Braque painted at the Académie Humbert in Paris, where he met Marie Laurencin and Francis Picabia. By 1906, Braque’s work was no longer Impressionist and had evolved into the bolder Fauvist style. He showed his Fauve works the following year in the Salon des Indépendants in Paris. His first solo show was at Daniel-Henri Kahnweiler’s gallery in 1908.
From 1909, Pablo Picasso and Braque worked together in developing Cubism and by 1911, their styles were extremely similar. One of Picasso's many pet names for Braque was 'Vilbour' or 'Wilbourg', a reference to Wilbur Wright. Picasso saw in their 1908-1914 creative partnership something that was akin to the pairing of brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright, the pioneers of sustained powered flight. In 1912, they started to incorporate collage elements into their paintings and to experiment with the papier collé (pasted paper) technique with Braque utilizing a roll of wallpaper he found in a local shop.
Braque served with honor in the French army during World War I and was seriously wounded in the head, leaving him temporarily blinded and unable to paint. Upon his recovery in 1917, he began a close friendship with painter Juan Gris.
After World War I, Braque’s work became freer and less schematic. His fame grew in 1922 as a result of an exhibition at the Salon d’Automne in Paris. In the mid-1920s, Braque designed the decor for two Sergei Diaghilev ballets. By the end of the decade, he had returned to a more realistic interpretation of nature, although certain aspects of Cubism always remained present in his work. In 1931, Braque made his first engraved plasters and began to portray mythological subjects. His first important retrospective took place in 1933 at the Kunsthalle Basel. He won First Prize at the Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, in 1937.
During World War II, Braque remained in Paris. His paintings at that time, primarily still lifes and interiors, became more somber. From the late 1940s Braque also created lithographs, engravings, and sculptures where he utilized his recurring themes of birds, ateliers, landscapes, and seascapes. His international fame continued to grow, when in 1948 he was awarded the main prize for painting at the Venice Biennale, and in 1951, was made a Commander of the Legion of Honour. A few years later, Braques' skill as a craftsman came into play when he designed stained-glass windows for the church of Varengeville and painted the ceiling for the Etruscan Gallery at The Louvre. Georges Braque had the distinction of being the first living artist to have his artworks exhibited at The Louvre in 1961.
During the last few years of his life, Braque’s ill health prevented him from undertaking further large-scale commissions, but he continued to paint, create lithographs, and design jewelry. He died on August 31, 1963, in Paris with his wife, Marcelle, at his side.
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