Le Ciel Bleu. The Blue Sky. by Georges Braque, 1882-1963

Georges Braque, 1882-1963
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Le Ciel Bleu. The Blue Sky.

Original lithograph in colours. 1962. Signed in pencil. Numbered in pencil from the edition of 75 impressions (plus c.10 H.C. proofs). Printed in the studio of Arte Adrien Maeght. Published by Galerie Maeght, Paris 1962. Ref: Vallier - Braque L'Oeuvre Gravé no 175 Colours: Royal blue, turquoise, grey.

Excellent impression with brilliant fresh colours. On pale cream japon nacré paper. Excellent condition. Full margins. Sheet: 14 3/8 x 17 1/2ins. Image overall: 6 3/4 x 9 3/4ins (170x248mm).

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The soaring bird has come to be seen as the great motif of the later period of Braque?s art. Braque wrote in the 1950?s that the birds were not so much a symbol but rather a means of expressing his belief in the limitless volume and space of life and in the eternity of creation. The line of their flight seems to define space and the ryhthmic elegance of the lines of their wings and bodies evokes the essence of movement and freedom.

Such ideas were born in the aftermath of the Second War. With the sense of a new age which came with the 1950?s like many artists Braque found the need to intersperse more intellectual concerns of form and light with a celebration of rebirth and of the enduring continuity of life. The bird became the symbolic expression of that celebration.

Lyrical colour and flowing line are also essential elements of Braque?s most beautiful studies of the bird. Here, working in lithography which had become a favourite medium at this period, brilliant royal blue is set against turquoise, with the ?frame? in grey-black.