Georges Braque, French (1882- 1963)

Georges Braque (May 13, 1882 – August 31, 1963) was a revolutionary French painter and sculptor who co-founded Cubism with Pablo Picasso and invented the art of collage. Early Life and Training • Family background: Born in Argenteuil-sur-Seine, France. His father and grandfather ran a house-painting and decorating business.

• Art studies: Studied evenings at the École des Beaux-Arts in Le Havre and later attended the Académie Humbert in Paris.

• Fauve period: Painted in a bright, expressive Fauvist style starting around 1906 before looking for a more structured approach to form.

• The Birth of Cubism • Meeting Picasso: Met Pablo Picasso in 1907 after seeing Picasso's groundbreaking work Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. • Shared style: Worked closely with Picasso between 1908 and 1912 to break down objects into geometric shapes and multiple perspectives. Their work looked very similar during this time. • Inventing collage: Created papier collé (pasted paper) in 1912 by gluing pieces of real paper onto his canvases.

• World War I and Later Career • Military service: Enlisted in the French Army in 1914 when World War I began. He suffered a severe head injury at the front.

• Return to art: Recovered slowly and started painting again in 1917. • Late works: Shifted toward softer, more poetic still lifes and famous paintings of birds. Painted a famous bird mural on the ceiling of the Louvre in 1953.

• Death: Passed away in Paris on August 31, 1963