Comprised of a repetition of oval blue targets, Le tir à l'arc (Archery) exemplifies Braque's skill at evoking a sense of mood through abstraction. The soft, swirling blue background brings to mind images of a cloud specked sky. We can almost imagine the targets lined up in preparation for an archery tournament. The cool, blue hue is calming, bringing us peace of mind upon viewing this lovely print.
The poet Francis Ponge, known himself for his prose poetry, writes of the artist's greatness: "In him, no affected greatness, no paraded greatness […] A greatness of fact, irremediable, irrepressible, directly generated by the least of his drawings (Abrams, 43). So even the small-format works contain something undeniably Braque.
Created in 1960, this original color lithograph is from the illustrated book Le tir à l'arc. This work is hand-signed by Georges Braque (Argenteuil, Val-d'Oise, 1882 - Paris, 1963) in pencil in the lower right margin and numbered from the edition of 70 in pencil in the lower left margin; published by Louis Broder, Paris and printed on chine colle.
