Glass, Bottle, and Newspaper
Georges Braque French
Not on view
Tradesmen would have hung the faux bois wallpaper vertically to simulate tongue-and-groove oak paneling, but here Braque pasted the cutouts horizontally. So mysterious is the space conjured in this still life that, in its “incorrect” orientation, the wallpaper could designate a wainscot, a tabletop, floorboards, or all three. The wallpaper is an alien presence, but Braque used the linear grooves and the drifts of wood-grain to reinforce, respectively, his hand-drawn geometric grid and hatched shading. Here and there Braque also extended the pattern by hand or drew over the offcuts: thus, the top edge of the ghostly newspaper (“JOUR[NAL]”) traverses the uppermost cutout.
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