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Georges Braque / France 1882–1963 / Hera and Themis 1932 / Etching on light brown wove handmade paper / 53.2 x 38.1cm / Gift of Mrs Lillian Bosch 1972 / © Georges Braque/ADAGP, Paris/Copyright Agency, 2019
Georges BraqueHera and Themis 1932
Not Currently on Display
In 1931, art dealer Ambroise Vollard invited Georges Braque to illustrate a book of his choice. Braque selected Hesiod’s Theogony, an epic poem composed around 700 BCE that describes the creation of the universe and the genealogy of the ancient Greek gods.
The sixteen etchings he produced for the publication between 1932 and 1935 show his preference for the female figure. Braque’s drawings were inspired by the incised linear figures and geometric patterning found on archaic Greek and Etruscan ceramics and bronzes. However, his use of an arabesque line also shows the influence of the automatic drawing of the surrealists.