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George Braque: The Lettera Amorosa Suite
An exhibition of twenty-nine (29) lithographs
"Braque
valued the quality of 'poetry' in painting very highly,
and many contemporaries found his late work 'poetic' in
nature."
--John Golding
Braque: The Late Works
The
last large body of printed works produced by Braque, completed
just months before his death. Lettera Amorosa consist of
29 color lithographs printed by Fernand Mourlot in Paris.
The images illustrate the poetry of René Char, which
is well documented with testimonials. The publisher E. Engelberts,
relates how some of the prints were conceived: "We
were with René Char, Mariette Lachaud, Fernand Mourlot
and Gaston Deschamps in Braque's studio, rue du Douanier.
The poet read the text, commenting on it from time to time.
Seated next to Braque with the maquette of the book on my
knees, I would emphasize a word or write on a blank page
whatever the text evoked for Braque. Having come to the
passage 'Je ris merveilleusement avec toi. Voilà
la chance unique,' Braque had me jot down: Sun-Springtime."
After
the layout was completed --always in consultation with the
poet-- five attempts were made proofing the images. Several
images were changed, redesigned and reworked by the artist
to assure that the illustrations were complementing both
the meaning and visual appearance of the text inspired by
the poet according to the rhythm of the masses and voids
on the page. From beginning to end, the project took nearly
four and a half years to complete. The majority of the work
was done on litho paper, transferred to zinc or stone and
retouched by the artist in his workshop. The first public
showing of Lettera Amorosa appeared in the exhibition Georges
Braque-René Char at the Bibliothèque littéraire
Jacques Doucet in May, 1963. Braque died just three months
later in Paris on August 31, 1963.
