Aout - Oiseau-Profil Encerclé. August - Bird-Profile in a Circle. by Georges Braque, 1882-1963

Georges Braque, 1882-1963
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Aout - Oiseau-Profil Encerclé. August - Bird-Profile in a Circle.

Original etching in two colours - black and beige. 1958. Signed in pencil. Numbered (63) in pencil from the edition of 70 on large format paper. Total signed edition of c.100 including proofs. Printed at the studio of Crommelynck and Dutrou, Paris 1958. Issued in the series: 'Aout - August' by Broder, Paris 1958.
Ref: Vallier - Braque l'Oeuvre Grav no 135 (2)

Excellent rich impression. On pale cream wove Auvergne paper. Excellent original condition. Full margins. Sheet: 14 3/4 x 19ins. Plate: 10 1/4 x 12 7/8ins ( 260x328mm)

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Although never really a member of the Surrealist circle Braque was close friends with many of the surrealist artists in the 1930's. Their ideas about autosuggestion in imagery, that one seemingly recognisable form can transmogrify itself into another totally different one through the smallest alteration in shape or through attitude of mind, had a considerable influence on his later imagery. The beautiful composition above illustrates his late use of this technique.

The series of four aquatint compositions under the tittle 'Août - August', inspired by the poetry of Saint-Pol Roux and drawn in 1958, outwardly uses themes such as summer leaves, fruit, the soaring swallows, outwardly to evoke the beauties of the season. However, as in 'Profile - August', above, the shape, perhaps a bird perhaps a butterfly, is changed into an evocation of the female profile which links to Braque's recurring theme that classical perfection expressed the eternity of artistic inspiration and poetry.

The 'Août - August' series also illustrates the sensitivity of Braque's use of aquatint as a medium. The brush creation of the forms allows them to have a painterly flow and rhythm, whilst at the same time the surface of the plate can be worked to give it texture. Here the whole surface of the bird-profile is bitten with an intricate pattern of textural lines (impossible to capture in any illustration) heightening the constantly changing mental interpretation of the form - perhaps a bird or a butterfly, perhaps a profile, perhaps even a bow of textured material. It is an intriguing, and constantly thought-provoking image which uses the interplay of the black ink of the main image and the soft cream-beige of the encircling frame to heighten the effect.