AFTER GEORGES BRAQUE (1882-1963)

Between 1961 and 1963, George Braque embarked upon an extraordinary project which would provide the perfect finale to his astounding artistic contribution. Eloquently combining aspects of his formal avant-garde explorations with lyrical, literary references and imagery from Greek mythology, this body of work encompassed his interest in the classical motifs which had inspired him throughout his artistic career and life in a distinctly modern style. The designs from Metamorphoses emanate a fluid, organic freedom of form, not losing sight of the artist’s core interest in dynamic spatial relationships which remained pertinent since his famed Cubist days. Just as Oceanic and African sculpture and design had provided Braque’s formal source material for his revolutionary Cubism with Pablo Picasso, in Metamorphoses, the graphic refinement, bold, simplified palette and lyrical subject matter pay homage to the artist’s passion for ancient Greek art and mythology.

As an artist working throughout his career ostensibly in two dimensions—predominantly on paper or on canvas--Braque’s work had frequently and famously alluded to three-dimensionality and the formal interrelationships of space and volume. Towards the end of his life, the artist had perhaps noticed fact that he had sculpted few works himself upon the production of a tome on the subject by famed scholar Christian Zervos. He had created less than fifty sculptures by comparison with his famous friend and rival Pablo Picasso who had produced several hundred. Considering this opportunity which remained open to exploration at the end of his life, Braque gave permission for a number of his graphic works and works on paper to be translated into miniature sculptures.

This translation of Metamorphoses, from a selection of over 100 designs that he had produced, required a skilled, intuitive and creative mind, one who could articulate texture through stone and metal and who could choose appropriate media to do justice to the intended sensations and formal interactions of the original works. This partner and collaborator for the jewels produced would come in Baron Heger de Loewenfeld, master goldsmith and gem cutter, who had a reputation for being very much a creative in his own right amongst the more conservative world of jewellery-making at that time. Loewenfeld’s first meeting with Braque was in 1961 whereupon they discussed stones and he remarked that the two artists talked “not about their value… but about their properties, their geological origins, their relationship with the earth”. This approach, in contrary to the way that many jewels were, and still are, interpreted in the industry showed a creative synergy that exemplifies the aligned spirits and objectives of the two men.

Braque’s original designs, refined and formally simplified in their nature, lent themselves very well to three-dimensional interpretation. Icarios VI (lot 6), for example, is a direct translation of the etching L’oiseau de feu, featuring Braque’s signature bird articulated in diamond, the most indestructible, precious and brilliant medium on a smooth, deep red oval. As the most prominent motifs from Braque’s career were chosen for the project, it is no surprise that his iconic bird motif reappears in several incarnations, such as Icarios (lot 15), a refined version of the same motif as a diamond brooch, and Terée (lot 26) the design based on L’Atélier, a colour lithograph from 1961. This figure for Braque was not solely a bird of peace, as with the dove many associate with Pablo Picasso, but a symbol both of liberation and of oppression, freedom and vulnerability, a more complex motif representing the yin and yang of existence, having evolved within his work and his philosophical perspective over time. Other works, which may appear out of context to be abstract, are named after Greek gods or heroic figures such as the winged and swift messenger Hermes (lot 29), Atlante (35) the fast and fearless hunter—here translated into a pin once owned by Marlene Dietric--and Alcyone (lot 11), the tragic demi-goddess-turned-Halcyon-bird articulated as an extraordinary organic necklace. These titles were chosen by Loewenfeld not always as literal descriptions of subject matter, but in homage to Braque’s passion for the subject and in line with the essential tensions, ideas and narratives that may more broadly have informed the work.

Loewenfeld not only found a means to translate Braque’s designs reverently, but actively innovated as a result of the collaboration. In an attempt to avert from Braque’s vehement dislike of shiny gold, Loewenfeld also approached this medium in a new way, using fused gold on gold to provide a new, textured effect, similar to sand as Braque had used. This treatment of gold is reflected in Eospheros (lot 2) as well as the finely worked pin Atlante (35) and the brooch Terée (lot 26). In his essay on the subject, Dan Klein remarks on how Loewenfeld “chose stones as if he were selecting paints from a palette to ease the artistic flow from one medium to another”. Eospheros (lot 2), elegantly exemplifies this, with baguette-cut rubies set upon warm, textured, matte, gold with the bright, silver, bird soaring across them both, creating a dramatic relief with formal richness and spatiality.

The results of this fruitful collaboration were a glorious revelation to André Malraux, the well-known French Arts and Culture Minister who had long been a supporter of Braque’s work. Upon seeing the first piloted versions, he announced: “This is extraordinary. This is Braque’s apotheosis. I want a hundred of them. These jewels shall be exhibited at the gallery of Apollo.” Shortly thereafter, on 21 March 1963, the famed exhibition Cent Bijoux de Georges Braque opened at the Palais du Louvre, Musée des Arts Décoratifs to rapturous acclaim, garnering praise from collectors, commentators and critics alike, including the New York Herald Tribune who reported ‘(the pieces) are simple, devastatingly beautiful and have the mystery of Braque symbols at their best’. The jewels remained on view beyond the advertised period, having been such a success that the show was extended, ending on Braque’s 81st and final birthday. Twelve of the works remain on view in the Louvre today, having been acquired by the state shortly after the exhibition.

The works in this sale represent a selection of wonderful of miniature sculptures as wearable jewels that were chosen from the broader 113 total designs to be made in small editions. The refined quality of their design and manufacture beautifully convey Braque’s expression and speak to the nature of the collaboration with Loewenfeld in translating Braque’s remarkable legacy.