Publishers Weekly
Though he created both the ideas and the first canvases of the cubist movement, Georges Braque is frequently overshadowed by his celebrated colleague Pablo Picasso. English critic Danchev's detailed biography, the first full-length study of Braque, reveals the reason why: Braque was that rare artist who was just as happy working and producing as seeking glory, an individual who didn't require the fawning attention that others, like Picasso, seemed to subsist on. Braque's friendship with Picasso is extensively explored and, although their relationship had slight sexual undertones (Picasso liked to refer to Braque as his "wife," and he "pursued Braque as relentlessly as he did any woman... over a far longer period"), Danchev makes it clear that their friendship was based on artistic affinity more than anything else. Intriguing revelations about Braque's much-protected private life abound, including discussions of his military service and his unswervingly faithful marriage to Marcelle Vorvanne. Danchev's intimate, conversational tone may put off readers with a preference for more formal biographies, but those with a penchant for lively prose and some familiarity with art history terminology will relish Danchev's meticulous contribution to the study of cubism. Illus. (Nov. 15) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
An enthusiastic appraisal of the French painter's work, but a less compelling account of his life. Early in his career, Braque (1882-1963) followed Matisse, the undisputed leader of the Fauves. Shortly after, he formed with Picasso perhaps the most fruitful and intense partnership in the history of art: Together, they invented Cubism, a revolutionary pictorial assault on time and space. His reputation certainly benefits from his link to the two greatest artists of the 20th century, but Danchev (International Relations/Univ. of Nottingham), whose style and presentation occasionally evoke the manner of the artist he so clearly loves, insists that Braque is "the third man of modern art." His establishment of Cubist motifs and his other innovations, notably paper sculptures and papier colles (pasted paper or collages), entitle Braque to a larger place in art history than generally acknowledged, argues his biographer. Rarely swayed by political or aesthetic fashion, intensely private, unusually silent and always disciplined, Braque went his own way, a path surely more narrow than Danchev appears willing to concede. His struggle was not so much with the times or with other artists, but rather with himself, to "bring painting within my gifts." Conscious of his own limitations (he assiduously avoided portraiture), Braque applied his talent to still-lifes and landscapes. Danchev cannot persuade us, though he tries mightily, that the second half of the artist's career measured up to the first. Still, if he was a lesser artist than Picasso or Matisse, Braque was surely a better man: faithfully married for more than 50 years, severely wounded as an officer during WWI and, though not a member of laresistance, at least a non-cooperator with the German occupation during WWII. By the time he died, in 1963, Braque's achievements merited a state funeral presided over by Andre Malraux. Scholars are unlikely to agree that Braque's reputation will come to rest as high as Danchev insists.
