Women with a Mandolin
Georges Braque - 1910, Oil on canvas 92 x 73 cm.
'Women with a Mandolin' was painted in Paris in the spring 1910, and was the first cubist work to take an oval format. The unusual format of this painting brings out the composition, making the lines stand out and form the objects. With there being no corners, the viewer will not have a point of concentration, no point which to get stuck at, this making the painting less static than others.
The women is placed onto what looks like a flat background, this making her look very solid. She seems to be holding the mandolin with her left hand on the neck and, her right arm discontinues at the wrist in front of the sound hole. The left shoulder is dropped further down than right, half way down the torso, which is the opposite of what it should be. The composition is made up of planes and lines but is broken up by the sound hole of the mandolin. The sound hole is reproduced and superimposed vertically downwards to the bottom of the painting, illustrated by the continuing dark lines of the strings.