Write notes on Georges Braque with particular reference to:
(a) his major contribution to modern art;
(b) three features of his work;
(c) one source of inspiration
This question was absolutely unpopular among the candidates. In spite of the remarkable contribution that Georges Braque made with Pablo Picasso to modern art, the few candidates that attempted the question responded as if his name was alien to art. These shoddy responses made them to lose substantial marks. They were expected to highlight some of the following points:
(a) - he invented Cubism; a major art movement of the early 20th century
with Pablo Picasso.
(b) - as typical of Cubism, his paintings are characterized by jagged shapes,
flattened figures and forms borrowed from African masks.
- his forms are simplified into basic geometric shapes.
- he undermined the illusion of space, for example, he abandoned conventional perspective in his works.
- the interpretation of forms gives a feeling of transparency.
- he placed buildings on top of each other rather than behind each other as dictated by conventional perspective.
- in his landscape paintings, he reduces houses and background into cubic shapes. This caused a kind of unity and also engendered ambiguity as there was no difference between solid forms and voids (positive and negative spaces).
- he also deviated from trying to create the illusion of three-dimensional space by abandoning the idea of consistent source of light and this is more noticeable in the early cubists paintings where cast shadows are placed in different directions.
(c) - Georges Braque, like other Cubists, was inspired by the earlier
paintings of Paul Cezanne.
- African masks also provided a profound source of inspiration for the Cubist, including Georges Braque
