Georges Braque by Alex Danchev

Author:Alex Danchev [Danchev, Alex]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-61145-407-9
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2011-02-08T05:00:00+00:00

Contemporary events influence the painter, that goes without saying, but to what extent and in what form they mingle in his work, that cannot be determined. In any case, the artist should not be expected to deliver a rounded verdict on the future of civilization. His role is not to prophesy. For all that, he still belongs to his time, even if he refuses to acknowledge certain a priori facts concerning either external events or the inner life. Ideas only ever enter his work as a driving force. They bear only a very indirect relationship to the expression of quality, and may disappear when the painter looks at his canvas. Quality itself is innate, and we can see it persist, standing the test of time. In art, it is fate of a kind that leads to valid decisions. For the rest, everything that does not assert itself irresistibly, irrefutably, engaging one’s whole being beyond all discussion, can only promise failure and destruction. Whether the end result conveys serenity or anxiety is something we cannot know. Do we need to repeat, here, [his maxim] that we are concerned with establishing not an anecdotal fact but a pictorial fact?

The artist is always under threat … One cannot separate him from other men. He lives on the same level as everyone else. His role is much too serious for what he wishes to contribute to be called ‘escapism’ or ‘happy holidays’ [terms used in the inquiry]. I have never thought for one moment that art is an illusion. Whatever is viable in the creative process develops almost involuntarily. We do not give enough credit to the dark forces that drive us, that many — in their optimistic approach to the universe — seek to ignore, but that must be controlled, advancing slowly and continually rediscovering before us the mystery we are striving to repel.

Changes of regime necessarily affect the life of the painter since, like everyone else, he endures his age. But his work depends too much on the past for him to accommodate to the changes of the hour with a clear conscience. Who said: ‘We have to live out our previous life’? Fulfilment requires physical time; if it takes ten years to conceive and execute a canvas, how is the painter supposed to stay abreast of events? A painting is not a snapshot. Once again, this does not mean that the painter is not influenced, concerned and more by history; he can suffer without being militant. Only let us distinguish, categorically, between art and current affairs.6

Braque had been troubled by the march of events for some time. According to his own precept, he suffered without being militant. ‘The militant is a man behind a mask.’7 Guernicas were not his style. What mattered was staunchness: whether the work (and the worker) would hold. In this as in other matters he stood four-square with Paul Celan. The poet of the death fugue and the painter of the dustbin shared an unexpected sense of humour.

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