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Lot Essay
Nature morte à la pipe was painted in 1919, the year that Braque re-established himself as one of the prominent figures of the Parisian art scene. This still life shows some of the elements that had become near signatures for Braque and his fellow pioneer founder of Cubism, Picasso: there are grapes, a bottle and the pipe. At the same time, the picture has been created using the combed effect and other textured marks that recall the earlier works of both artists. After a hiatus due in large part to the First World War and Braque's convalescence after an injury, he returned to his Cubism bringing a new fresh perspective. Gone is the rigid geometry, replaced by a more flowing, supple sense of form that introduces a greater sensuality that is accentuated by the use of sand to thicken and variegate the paint surface. In this picture, the round grapes appear on the brink of explosion, adding to their desirability; at the same time, Braque has clearly revelled in exploring the sense of space, and the sense of interaction between the objects, that were to become increasingly important during the inter-war years.
Braque stormed back onto the avant-garde scene in Paris in 1919 with an exhibition at the gallery of Léonce Rosenberg. This was an emphatic reminder of his importance to the development of modern art over the previous decade. Rosenberg was the first owner of this picture; it was subsequently owned by the couturier Jacques Doucet. A prominent figure in the world of fashion who dressed the ladies of the beau monde and nobility of his day, Doucet acquired several collections, having been interested in the Impressionists, and later the Eighteenth century. He then changed once more, selling his Chardins and other such pictures and acquiring instead an array of masterpieces by artists such as Braque, Matisse, Picasso and Van Gogh. Indeed, he was the owner of Picasso's Les demoiselles d'Avignon, now in the Museum of Modern Art, New York, often considered to have been the springboard of Cubism; Picasso also drew his portrait. Nature morte à la pipe was later in the collection of the Dallas-based collectors, Mr. and Mrs. James H. Clark. Focusing on the birth of abstraction and its various roots and origins, the Clarks assembled a collection that featured a number of important artists from the early 20th Century including Léger and Mondrian.
Braque stormed back onto the avant-garde scene in Paris in 1919 with an exhibition at the gallery of Léonce Rosenberg. This was an emphatic reminder of his importance to the development of modern art over the previous decade. Rosenberg was the first owner of this picture; it was subsequently owned by the couturier Jacques Doucet. A prominent figure in the world of fashion who dressed the ladies of the beau monde and nobility of his day, Doucet acquired several collections, having been interested in the Impressionists, and later the Eighteenth century. He then changed once more, selling his Chardins and other such pictures and acquiring instead an array of masterpieces by artists such as Braque, Matisse, Picasso and Van Gogh. Indeed, he was the owner of Picasso's Les demoiselles d'Avignon, now in the Museum of Modern Art, New York, often considered to have been the springboard of Cubism; Picasso also drew his portrait. Nature morte à la pipe was later in the collection of the Dallas-based collectors, Mr. and Mrs. James H. Clark. Focusing on the birth of abstraction and its various roots and origins, the Clarks assembled a collection that featured a number of important artists from the early 20th Century including Léger and Mondrian.