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La saucière

Creator: Georges Braque
Offered by: bernard jacobson gallery

Description
Details
Georges Braque
La saucière
1942

Oil on canvas
33.6 x 55.1 cms (13 1/4 x 21 5/8 ins)

Signed G. Braque lower left (recto)

About
In La Saucière (1942), Braque revisited his early fascination with Cubist conceptions surrounding space. A highly texturised and inventive still-life, the work exemplifies the artist’s engagement with the theme of the pedestal table – a leitmotif that occupied his œuvre from 1911 to 1952. Painted in 1942, amidst the unheaval of the Second World War, the painting liberates the purely relational space between mundane objects by juxtaposing them against the surface of a dark table top and muted background; in the process, Braque emphasises his naturalistic view point, which at the time of the war had transformed into a more intimate and ritualistic iconography.

In contrast to the artist's early Cubist still lifes, the work demonstrates the austerities of life in occupied Paris: the cherries, lemons, glass, sauce boat, potato and fork are sparsely scattered across the table top, illustrating wartime scarcity. Although Braque famously disclaimed all symbolic interpretations of his work, the spatial concerns of his still life are still at the mercy of circumstance, and La Saucière contemplatively praises man’s ability to endure the daily tribulations of food rationing and shortage during the war. Such scarcity of materials allowed Braque to explore the space between objects, a subject which preoccupied him throughout his career.

Provenance
Alfred Poyet, Paris

Sam Salz, New York

Alex & Elizabeth Lewyt, New York (acquired from the above in 1952)

Private Collection, New York (by descent from the above; sale: Sotheby's, New York, 7th May 2013, lot 8)

Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Literature
Maeght Éditeur (ed.), Catalogue de l'œuvre de Georges Braque, Peintures, 1942-1947, Paris, 1960, no. 33, illustrated n.p. (erroneously catalogued as oil on paper)

Exhibited
Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts, 1942

New York, Findlay Galleries, Art Seldom Seen: Masterpieces from the Private Collection, the first Helen Pratt Philbin Memorial Exhibition, 1974, n.n.

More Information

Dimensions

Message from Seller:

Bernard Jacobson Gallery, founded in 1969, specializes in modern British, American, and international art, showcasing paintings, sculpture, and prints by renowned artists. For inquiries, contact +44 207 734 3431 or constance@jacobsongallery.com.