The Guitar: “Statue d’Épouvante”
Georges Braque French
Not on view
It is often the case with trompe l’oeil typography that words inside an artwork make inside commentary about art. Here, sculpture, music, film, drawing, and collage are brought together in “concert” to play a recurring theme, or “rondo.” Braque undoubtedly saved the program from the Tivoli Cinema because of the suggestive titles of the three “représentations” (screenings). Éclair-Journal, or “illuminated newspaper,” was a weekly cinematic newsreel. “Timbre rare” (rare tone) suggests the sound of the guitar and perhaps also Braque’s silvery strokes. The plot of Statue d’Épouvante (Horrific Statue) revolved around a sculptor seeking to avenge his daughter’s death; yet the words can also be read as the artist’s expression of mock horror at traditional forms of sculpture.
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