Braque Deux oiseaux sur fond bleu (Two birds on a blue background), c 1955 depicts two birds flying across the paper, one fully in the frame, and the other exiting just ahead. The birds are black, differentiated from the dark blue sky by patches of white that give definition and also act as clouds hanging in the sky. The birds are simple, abstracted forms that convey energy and movement. The image is controlled by the formation of an ovular sky on a rectangular page – and the birds are bound within this oval, not free to escape onto the rest of the page. Yet this does not limit their movement, as their energy extends far beyond the boundary of the blue oval. This lithograph was a sketch in contention to be decoration on the ceiling of the Etruscan Room at the Louvre.

Braque had explored the form of the bird earlier in his career, but it was not until the last period of his art that he cared to explore the bird so fully – especially the idea of the bird in flight. While some of the earlier versions of Braque’s birds are placed with other objects or landscapes as context, he moves into portraying birds against only the colored background of the sky. Through the abstracted form of the bird, Braque explores the concepts of space and motion (Braque: Order and Emotion. New York: Umberto Allemandi and Company, 2004).

Created c. 1955, this color lithograph is hand-signed by Georges Braque (Argenteuil, Val-d’Oise, 1882 – Paris, 1963) in pencil in the lower right, and numbered from the edition of 75 in pencil in the lower left.

Catalogue Raisonné & COA:

1. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany this artwork.

About the Framing:
Framed to museum-grade, conservation standards, Georges Braque Deux oiseaux sur fond bleu (Two birds on a blue background), c 1955, is presented in a complementary moulding and finished with silk-wrapped mats and optical grade Plexiglas.