Harbor

1909

Georges Braque

Artist, French, 1882 - 1963

A patchwork of earth-toned rectangles, cubes, and prism-like shapes surrounded by pools of cool aquamarine and silvery gray fill this square, nearly abstract painting. Brushstrokes, which are mostly horizontal, and dashes are visible throughout. A curving, pointed form at the lower center could be a boat with a tall, fawn-brown mast. It is surrounded by forms suggestive of rocks, other boats, or structures against a watery horizon. Most of the shapes around the boat are leather brown, tan, apricot orange, muted violet, or steel gray. Another pole, also suggestive of a mast, angles up from near the lower left corner, about a third of the way into the composition. Many of the shapes are outlined with charcoal-gray lines. Horizontal and blended strokes in pewter gray and icy blue at the upper corners suggest the sky.
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On View

East Building Mezzanine, Gallery 217-B

Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Galerie Kahnweiler, Paris, stock no. 715, as _ les barques (Anvers)_);[1] sequestered by the French government during World War I and sold by the government at (second Kahnweiler Collection sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 17-18 November 1921, no. 9, as Le Port); purchased by Mr. Clément. Private collection, Zurich, by 1950 until at least 1953. G. David Thompson, Pittsburgh; sold November 1958 to (M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York) on joint account with (César de Hauke, New York); purchased 1959 by Henry T. Mudd;[2] Mrs. Henry T. Mudd [later Mrs. Victoria Nebeker Coberly], Pasadena, California; gift 1992 to NGA.
[1] A Galerie Kahnweiler label is on the painting's stretcher. Prof. Pepe Karmel kindly provided information from the stock book, as well as that Kahnweiler’s photograph album lists the painting as les Bateaux, no. 1066 (see email of 5 August 2024 in NGA curatorial file).
[2] Information concerning Knoedler's ownership of the painting provided by Melissa De Medeiros, letter of 14 February 2000 to Sally Mansfield, in NGA curatorial files. The painting was Knoedler stock number A7100, which appears twice on the painting's stretcher, on a paper label and handwritten.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1933

  • Georges Braque, Kunsthalle Basel, 1933, no. 31.

1950

  • Europäische Kunst 13 - 20 Jahrhundert aus Zürcher Sammlungen, Kunsthaus, Zurich, 1950, p. 30.

1953

  • Braque, Kunsthalle Bern, 1953, no. 27.

1982

  • Braque: le cubisme, fin 1907-1914, Galerie Maeght, Paris, 1982, no. 50.

2011

  • Georges Braque -- Pioneer of Modernism, Acquavella Galleries, Inc., New York, 2011, unnumbered catalogue, pl. 7.

2013

  • Georges Braque, 1882-1963, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Museo Guggenheim Bilbao, 2013-2014, no. 48, repro.

2014

  • Collection Conversations: The Chrysler and the National Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, 2014-2015, no catalogue..

2021

  • Georges Braque 1906-1914: Erfinder des Kubismus/ Inventor of Cubism, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf, 2021 - 2022, 26, repro..

Inscriptions

lower right reverse, upside down: G Braque

Wikidata ID

Q20191245

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