Graveur - Berggruen & Cie 1953

This original 1953 French exhibition poster was created by Georges Braque for Braque Graveur—“Braque the Printmaker”—held at Berggruen & Cie in Paris during November and December 1953. The exhibition was devoted to Braque’s graphic work and reflected the important place printmaking occupied within his later career.

The composition is dominated by an irregular black form containing a fluid white, bird-like motif and Braque’s name in expressive calligraphic lettering. Above, a delicate winged insect appears beside a sharp triangular shape, adding an unexpected sense of movement and visual tension.

Braque combines a brilliant yellow ground with black, white, muted blue and a small block of warm red. The simplified shapes, textured surfaces and handwritten elements create a balance between abstraction and recognisable imagery, transforming the exhibition announcement into an independent work of graphic art.

Georges Braque was one of the principal innovators of twentieth-century modernism and, together with Pablo Picasso, a founder of Cubism. Alongside painting and sculpture, he produced an extensive body of prints in which birds, natural forms and poetic symbols became recurring elements.

A striking example of post-war French exhibition design, this original poster would make an important addition to a collection devoted to Georges Braque, modern art, printmaking, Cubism or historic Parisian galleries.

Original poster

Exhibition - Abstract

Good condition, folds