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The Bank Austria Kunstforum is presenting a large-scale retrospective on Georges Braque in winter 2008 as an act of homage to this major pathfinder of the avantgarde. It will not only be the first retrospective in Central Europe after a period of twenty years, but the very first presentation of Georges Braque in Austria – 45 years after his death.

The exhibition will take this as an opportunity of (re-)discovering his extraordinary oeuvre. Around 80 paintings and the chief printed graphics will indicate Braque’s special way into the European modern movement and illustrate the uniqueness of his painting adventure: Braque among the Fauves, Braque the methodical, Braque the inventor of papier collé, Braque’s borrowing from decoration painting, in which he was apprenticed, Braque the master of modern still life and, last but not least, Braque the »lyrical constructor«.

All these components are to be honoured equally in the exhibition, thus tracing an artistic oeuvre that is far more complex and exciting than reducing it to his insider relationship with Picasso and the fateful identification of his work with cubism – something that art historians have often been led to do.

The exhibition will be devoted to the »complete« Braque, thus also his late work, which has suffered a comparatively strong recession into the background in appreciation history. It will therefore cast light for instance on the visionary picture series of the »Ateliers«, in which Braque most closely approaches his goal of the greatest possible condensation of material and space as a haptic experience. The »Ateliers« are without a doubt the culmination of fascinating late work of Georges Braque.