130. The Portuguese, Georges Braque

 

1911 The Portuguese Georges Braque. 1911 C.E. France. Oil on canvas In this canvas, everything was fractured. The guitar player and the dock was just so many pieces of broken form, almost broken glass. By breaking these objects into smaller elements, Braque was able to overcome the unified singularity of an object and instead transform it into an object of vision.

Form: Oil on Canvas

Function to show all sides of a subject

Content: neither naturalistic nor conventional fractured forms clear edged surfaces on the picture plane—not recessed in space nearly monochrome not a portrait of a portuguese musician, but rather an exploration of shapes only realistic elements are stenciled letters and numbers

Context: Analytical Cubism (1907-1912) first phase of cubism highly experimental, jagged edges, sharp and multifaceted lines Worked with Picasso to develop this style "By breaking these objects into smaller elements, Braque and Picasso are able to overcome the unified singularity of an object and instead transform it into an object of vision" (Khan Academy - Analytical Cubism) Cross Cultural Comparison Left: Pablo Picasso, Ma Jolie, 1911–12, oil on canvas, 39 3/8 x 25 3/4 inches (MoMA); Right: Georges Braque, The Portuguese, 1911–12, oil on canvas, 46 x 32 inches (Kunstmuseum, Basel, Switzerland) Left: Pablo Picasso, Ma Jolie, 1911–12, oil on canvas, 39 3/8 x 25 3/4 inches (MoMA); Right: Georges Braque, The Portuguese, 1911–12, oil on canvas, 46 x 32 inches (Kunstmuseum, Basel, Switzerland) https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/cubism-early-abstraction/cubism/a/georges-braque-and-pablo-picasso-two-cubist-musicians