Completely devoid of the bright, bold colours that appeared in his early Fauvist paintings, this piece shows the new direction that both he and his friend and fellow artist, Picasso, were travelling in.
Braque's father owned a painting and decorating business. It was his skills and techniques that became the tools for Picasso and Braque's new artistic style, rather than the techniques taught in fine art colleges at that time.
According to the Curator of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Michael Taylor, Braque has taken fragments from his daily life and used techniques that his father would have taught him such as stenciling and dragging a comb through paint to create the faux-bois or faked wood effect on the violin.
Violin and Newspaper is a carefully composed piece and encourages the viewer's eyes to move around the painting taking in the recognizable shapes, clues and fragments of Braque's still life. See also Fruit Dish and Glass.
According to curator Taylor, the letters "JOURN" at the bottom of the painting are a reference to "Le Journal" the newspaper that the cubists would read at their café.
Essences of other items appear but are abstracted. The strings and other elements of a violin are hinted at but not quite formed and fragmented.
His use of colour is limited but appears harmonious, a total departure from the expressive bright colours that Braque used to depict emotions in his early works.
Both Braque and Picasso completed very similar pieces of art during this period. They met regularly to discuss techniques, ideas and continued to push the boundaries of the art world at that time.
Violin and Newspaper represents a tiny fragment of life through George Braque's eyes and continues to fascinate the viewer.
