喬治·布拉克

坎魏勒畫廊，巴黎

現代成就畫廊（萊昂斯·羅森伯格畫廊），巴黎（1922年）

凱瑟琳·S·德賴爾，紐約

菲利普斯收藏館，華盛頓（1953年受上述藏家遺贈，售出：紐約蘇富比，1987年11月11日，拍品編號46）

A·阿弗烈·陶博曼購自上述拍賣

巴黎，現代成就畫廊，「喬治·布拉克」，1919年

紐約，布魯克林博物館；布法羅，紐約，安德森畫廊；布法羅，紐約，奧爾布賴特畫廊；多倫多畫廊，「無名學會組藏之國際現代藝術展」，1926-27年，品號31（布魯克林），品號16（紐約），品號18（布法羅），品號54（多倫多）

紐約，現代藝術博物館，「立體主義與抽象藝術」，1936年

紐約，現代藝術博物館；克利夫蘭美術館，「布拉克」，1949年，品號25

紐海文，耶魯大學美術館，《紀念凱瑟琳·S·德賴爾，1877-1952年：其現代藝術珍藏》，1952-53年，品號7

愛丁堡，愛丁堡嘉年華；倫敦，泰特美術館，「喬治·布拉克」，1956年，品號43

紐約，賽登伯格畫廊，「喬治·布拉克—美國的致敬：野獸派與立體派」，1964年，品號32

巴爾的摩美術館，「1914年作之油畫·素描及雕塑作品展」，1964年，品號22

巴黎，龐畢度中心，「巴黎--紐約」（展覽圖錄），1977年，第373頁載圖

聖保羅，梅格基金會，「喬治·布拉克」，1980年，品號58

紐約，「畢加索與布拉克：開拓立體派」，1980-90年，圖錄彩色載圖

《塑性價值》，II-III，1919年，載圖

羅歇·比西埃，《喬治·布拉克》，巴黎，1920年，載圖圖版1

《大西洋評論》，1-3期，1924年，第108頁，載圖

《現代成就公報》，第二期，1924年2月，載圖

《藝術筆記》，巴黎，1933年，第33頁，載圖

卡爾·愛恩斯坦，《喬治·布拉克，二十世紀》，巴黎，1934年，載圖圖版XLI

亨利·奧普，《喬治·布拉克》（展覽圖錄），現代藝術博物館，紐約，1949年，第71頁載圖

約翰·理查森，《喬治·布拉克》，倫敦，1959年，品號11，載圖

約翰·羅素，《喬治·布拉克》，1959年，第21頁，載圖

約翰·戈爾丁，《立體主義》，巴黎，1962年，品號40a，載圖

斯坦尼斯拉斯·菲梅，《喬治·布拉克》，巴黎，1965年，載圖圖版48

埃德溫·馬林斯，《布拉克》，倫敦，1968年，品號57，載圖

馬爾科·里瓦塞基與馬西莫·卡拉，《布拉克作品全集》，米蘭，1977年，第92頁，品號132

妮科爾·沃姆斯·德·羅米伊與瓊·勞德，《布拉克立體主義1907-14年》，巴黎，1982年，品號232，第243頁彩色載圖

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Le Violon of 1914 is an important example of the evolution of synthetic cubism in Braque's art and exemplifies the stylization of this revolutionary movement of the twentieth-century avant-garde. The technique of collage, first developed by Braque and Picasso towards the end of 1912, transformed the pictorial conceptions which had hitherto guided the two artists during the evolution of Cubism. Whilst previously they analyzed and dissected objects breaking them down into sets of geometric forms, in their works of 1913-14 they found they could create their own pictorial reality and build a composition through a synthesis of various elements. Although the two artists did not work together, throughout the Cubist epoch they maintained an intense dialogue guided by a friendly rivalry in which each painter endeavoured to surpass the other one in creativity and invention. Le Violon is a notable example of this fervent innovation and of a fruitful and ground-breaking artistic dialogue.

In his paintings of 1913, Braque began turning away from the hermetic and complex structures of Analytic Cubism, in favour of simpler and flatter forms that characterised Synthetic Cubism. Whilst he retained the genre of still-life as his preferred subject matter, choosing the already familiar objects such as musical instruments, bottle, glass and newspapers, the artist’s approach to depicting these elements was radically different. In his Synthetic Cubist works Braque focused on the composition as a whole, building it up from simplified forms which overlap and interact in ways that suggest the shapes of everyday objects. The complex, multiple viewpoints of Analytic Cubism were abandoned for simpler, more purely two-dimensional shapes emphasizing the flatness of the canvas, and Le Violon demonstrates how the invention of papier collé paved the way towards this new painterly idiom. Whilst in papier collé pieces of flat paper were literally pasted onto the surface of the picture, oil paintings take this notion a step further by building a composition out of rectilinear shapes which appear to be pasted onto the canvas, such as the trompe-l’œil wooden grain motif signifying the material of the violin in the present composition.

Douglas Cooper explained the method that Braque developed during this period: "Braque, rather more than Picasso, concentrated on elaborating the structural notation within each picture, on synthesizing and suggesting the forms of objects rather than showing their different aspects, and on representing the relationships between objects […] and the space around them. Space was thus ‘materialized’ instead of being invoked by illusion. Light was directed at will to give relief where needed, and the principle of a single viewpoint was wholly abandoned" (D. Cooper, The Essential Cubism, London, 1983, p. 72).

One of the first owners of this picture was Katherine Sophie Dreier (1877-1952) the American artist, suffragette, social reformer and patron of the arts. Having studied as a painter Dreier worked alongside Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray in New York, founding the Société Anonyme in 1920.  In later years Dreier was instrumental donating the Société's collection to Yale University.  Dreier bequeathed the present work to the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., where it remained for over thirty years.