Georges Braque

Doris Morrison, England
Andrea M. Bronfman (by descent from the above in the 1950s)
Thence by descent

London, ICA Gallery, Georges Braque, An Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings from Collections in England, 1954, no. 1
Basel, Galerie Beyeler, Georges Braque, 1968, no. 1

The canvas is strip lined.Some fine lines of stable craquelure visible to the sky and to the white pigment on the most prominent column. Some frame rubbing with spots of associated pigment loss in places to the extreme edges. In the column behind the central group of figures there is a slightly raised area which has been supported on the reverse by a patch. There is a layer of varnish preventing the UV light from fully penetrating, however UV examination does reveal some areas of fluorescence in places to the columns, and lines of retouching to the central grouping of figures in the foreground. This work is in overall good condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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Painted in 1905, the present lot is a rare and extremely attractive example of George Braque’s early work, and the painting provides compelling insight into the beginning stages of development of his Fauve technique. Following his military service, Braque’s parents agreed to support him with a small allowance so that he could live and train as a painter in Paris. He enrolled in the Académie Humbert on the Boulevard Rochechouart, where he met fellow students Francis Picabia and Marie Laurencin, the latter becoming a close personal friend.

Every summer his family would rent a cottage in a quiet corner of Honfleur. The picturesque fishing village was an ideal source of visual material for a budding artist, and it was here in this town that he met Raoul and Jean Dufy, as well as one of Pissarro’s sons. Braque acknowledged destroying many works from this period, retaining only those he thought worthy and which to him were more than strictly formative; several others were lost. The few surviving works from this period reveal his Impressionistic beginnings, discernably influenced by the works of Boudin, Monet and Pissarro.

The best documented works of this period include The Grandmother of a Friend, painted circa 1900, and La Côte de Grâce à Honfleur, painted in 1905 (see fig. 1). As described in a 1971 catalogue of Braque’s art, “What does a young painter do in Le Havre, around 1900? In summer he paints landscapes, and in winter portraits of those he knows who are willing to sit for him… The work, among those preserved by the painter, evinces at the outset one of his most durable qualities—discretion—and a taste for thickset forms of which we will find many examples later” (Francis Ponge, et al., G. Braque, New York, 1971, p. 80).