My Life Story: What You Didn't See Last Time

Are you still here, readers? As I promised, this post is filled with more history about cubism and the rest of my life. I know my last post was a bit of a tease, but I like to keep my fans coming back for more. After all, things are hardly ever what they seem. 

So, as cubism grew, World War I quickly approached. I was called for military service in late 1914*, where I got a terrible head injury and was temporarily blinded. Those moments of darkness were unlike anything I’ve ever known. To be without my vision, it was terrible. I couldn’t see the colors and shapes that I had spent so long defining. I will never take my sight for granted again.

By 1916 I had resumed painting, though I was starting to fall away from Cubism. I still used geometric shapes in my work, but I started to use different surfaces. I used round-topped pedestal tables, mirrors, wood, anything and everything that I could get my hands on. Experimentation and thinking outside the box were key.

In 1929 I revisited places of my childhood and built a studio in Varengeville-sur-Mer. I started painting smaller landscapes again, and began using more and more color and decoration. Around 1936, I decided to focus on interior views. I never really connected with these subjects, though, and built a sculpture studio. 

World War II was approaching, and though I moved around a little in 1940, I eventually settled in Paris for more of the war. I had a year where I didn’t create anything, only observed. I started painting again in 1941. I returned to interior views, and used muted colors. 

After the war had ended, I decided to explore color lithography. It never really panned out. 1953 was a good year. I got commissioned to decorate the ceiling of a room in the Palais du Louvre. The year after that I designed stained glass windows for the church in Varengeville. In 1959 I became chronically ill, and I have yet to rally myself up enough to finish one last canvas.

*Kachur, Lewis. Braque, Georges (1882-1963), painter, collagist, draughtsman, printmaker. London: Oxford University Press, 1996.