Lithograph, 1963

Edition : 19/75

Publisher : Edwin Engelberts (Genève)

Catalog : Mourlot 127

38.00 cm. x 28.00 cm. | 14.96 in. x 11.02 in. (paper)

12.00 cm. x 17.00 cm. | 4.72 in. x 6.69 in. (image)

Arches paper

The lithograph we propose was made by Braque following the publication of René Char's "Lettera Amorosa", which he had illustrated with 27 lithographs in 1963, a text initially published without illustration in 1953 by Gallimard, Paris. Then selected for an independent edition, it remains that the work testifies of the alliance between the poetry of the first and the pictorial art of the second.

If the poem is attached to places, Braque's art is attached to facts. With the intention of rendering the austerity of reality, which he takes from Cézanne, the artist fragments the space in order to introduce the object, here, flowers with evanescent violet shades. No doubt he wanted to signify the iris, a symbol used by the poet to express his love for a woman whose name he does not want to reveal.

It is also with an element of mystery that Braque gives us a glimpse of these flowers, so simple but nevertheless disturbing, so much the form acts independently of the color. The darker areas are in harmony with the lighter ones, while the contours stand out abruptly from the background, in a formal flatness that is most obvious. All the sensitivity of the artist emanates from the image, so much so that it reminds us that Guillaume Apollinaire saluted Braque "for using forms so unknown that only a few poets suspected their existence".

Very good condition
Handsigned by the artist in pencil
Certificate of authenticity

Ref : LCD5220