Violin

early 1914

Violin, early 1914. Georges Braque (French, 1882–1963). Cut and pasted papers (newsprint, block-printed or stenciled decorative paper, and faux bois), with charcoal and graphite; unframed: 71.8 x 51.8 cm (28 1/4 x 20 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1968.196 © Artists Right Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris This drawing belongs to a series that Georges Braque made with papier collé, a technique he invented in 1912 that featured collaged elements made from inexpensive wood-patterned wallpaper. Around the same time, Braque's frequent collaborator, Pablo Picasso, was also experimenting with collage, and the two worked closely together until World War I interfered in 1914. Here, Braque represented a violin and glass on a table supported by a single wooden leg. The violin is defined with lines of charcoal, a newspaper fragment, a piece of paper with wood grain, and a strip of decorative patterned paper. Using this combination of materials, Braque placed his subject in a complex space of intersecting planes that defies the logic of representation. Georges Braque glued an entire page from the newspaper Le Journal on the reverse side of this drawing.