Georges Braque - Georges Braque: Le Solitaire [+4] - 1946

Book 1: Braque the Boss
Full title: Braque the Boss
Author: Jean Paulhan
Publisher: Éditions des Trois Collines, Geneva-Paris (in the historic series “Les Grands Peintres par leurs Amis”)
Year of publication: 1946 (First edition in this format / Original commercial edition)
Pages: 171 pages (includes 1 color plate mounted and 56 black-and-white plates out of text)
Description: A historical and celebrated critical-literary essay written by the renowned French intellectual Jean Paulhan, which closely analyzes Georges Braque’s painting philosophy and personality. The volume is in paperback format with a blue dark slate-coloured cardboard cover, featuring a salmon pink calligraphic title that echoes the artist’s typical style. Text entirely in French.

Book 2: Georges Braque — The Solitaire
Full title: Georges Braque: The Solitaire
Author / Text by: André Verdet (well-known French poet and art critic)
Publisher: XXe Siècle / F. Hazan, Paris
Year of publication: May 14, 1959
Total pages: 58 pages
Description: Splendid and precious art book in a limited edition, printed in only 900 numbered copies. The absolute peculiarity of this prestigious edition lies in its illustration: it contains 8 magnificent color plates out of text printed with the refined pochoir technique, reproduced from Braque’s original watercolors and superbly executed by the famous master printer Daniel Jacomet in Paris. The work is presented in a horizontal rigid cloth-covered format, bound in natural coarse linen cloth, entirely illustrated and printed in color on the front board.

Book 3: The Complete Works of Braque 1908-1929 (Rizzoli Art Classics)
Full title: The Complete Works of Braque 1908-1929: from Cubist deconstruction to the recovery of the object
Preface by: Marco Valsecchi
Critical and philological apparatus by: Massimo Carrà
Publisher: Rizzoli Editore, Milan
Series: Classics of Art, no. 47
Year of publication: 1971 (First Edition)
Pages: 116 pages (richly illustrated with 64 full-page color plates and a final black-and-white catalog raisonné that meticulously lists 453 of the painter’s works)
Description: A scholarly hardcover volume with its original glossy illustrated dust jacket (reproducing the 1928 still life with table).

Book 4: Braque (Catalogue of the French Academy — Villa Medici)
Full title: Braque Edited by / Texts by: Jean Leymarie
Publisher: De Luca Editore, Rome
Year of publication: 1974
Pages: 42 pages of critical and biographical text, followed by 78 out-of-text illustrative plates, mostly in black and white (for a total of about 180 unnumbered pages)
Description: Official catalogue in a square paperback format published for the important monographic exhibition organized by the French Academy in Rome at Villa Medici (November 15, 1974 – January 20, 1975). On the white flexible cover stands a striking vertical color band reproducing the famous painting Le Guéridon rouge (1952).

Book 5: All Braque’s Painted Works 1908-1929 (Flammarion)
Full title: All Braque’s Painted Works 1908-1929 (Edition in French)
Introduction by: Marco Valsecchi
Critical and philological apparatus by: Massimo Carrà
Publisher: Flammarion, Paris
Series: Les Classiques of Art Flammarion
Year of publication: 1973
Pages: 116 pages (full of 64 spectacular full-page color plates and a monumental final black-and-white archival catalog that lists and catalogues 453 of the painter’s works)
Description: This is the French counterpart of the Italian series “I Classici dell'Arte Rizzoli.” Unlike the Italian rigid hardcover edition, the French edition is in a flexible glossy softcover with integrated flaps. On the cover it features the famous cubist still life Fruttiera e vasi (Le compotier).