Woodcut Braque

Georges Braque was born in Argenteuil, France, in 1882. Braque lived much of his childhood and young adult life in Le Havre. He attended night classes at the art school from 1897–99 and then moved to Paris, where he obtained his license as a master decorator. From 1905–06, after studying at École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and having been influenced by the works of Henri Matisse, he began to paint in the way of Fauvism by using bright colors and taking advantage of the freedom of the composition. Paysage à L'Estaque (1906) was one of the prominent works of art made at this time.

The year 1907 was a significant time in Braque's development, wherein he visited the retrospective on Paul Cézanne and he came into contact with Picasso, who was very engrossed in the realization of Les Demoiselles d'Avignon at the time. At this point, Braque began nurturing a considerable interest in primitive art. After the First World War, Braque worked autonomously and developed a more personal style, which was characterized by vivid colors and textured surfaces. Braque painted still life, interior views, and ocean scenes. The Ateliers (1948–55) and Birds (1955–63) series were painted during this period. In 1948, he obtained his first award for painting at the XXIV Biennial in Venice.

Decorating with fine art prints — whether they’re figurative prints, abstract prints or another variety — has always been a practical way of bringing a space to life as well as bringing works by an artist you love into your home.

Pursued in the 1960s and ’70s, largely by Pop artists drawn to its associations with mass production, advertising, packaging and seriality, as well as those challenging the primacy of the Abstract Expressionist brushstroke, printmaking was embraced in the 1980s by painters and conceptual artists ranging from David Salle and Elizabeth Murray to Adrian Piper and Sherrie Levine.

Printmaking is the transfer of an image from one surface to another. An artist takes a material like stone, metal, wood or wax, carves, incises, draws or otherwise marks it with an image, inks or paints it and then transfers the image to a piece of paper or other material.

Fine art prints are frequently confused with their more commercial counterparts. After all, our closest connection to the printed image is through mass-produced newspapers, magazines and books, and many people don’t realize that even though prints are editions, they start with an original image created by an artist with the intent of reproducing it in a small batch. Fine art prints are created in strictly limited editions — 20 or 30 or maybe 50 — and are always based on an image created specifically to be made into an edition.

Many people think of revered Dutch artist Rembrandt as a painter but may not know that he was a printmaker as well. His prints have been preserved in time along with the work of other celebrated printmakers such as Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí and Andy Warhol. These fine art prints are still highly sought after by collectors.

“It’s another tool in the artist’s toolbox, just like painting or sculpture or anything else that an artist uses in the service of mark making or expressing him- or herself,” says International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA) vice president Betsy Senior, of New York’s Betsy Senior Fine Art, Inc.

Because artist’s editions tend to be more affordable and available than his or her unique works, they’re more accessible and can be a great opportunity to bring a variety of colors, textures and shapes into a space.

For tight corners, select small fine art prints as opposed to the oversized bold piece you’ll hang as a focal point in the dining area. But be careful not to choose something that is too big for your space. And feel free to lean into it if need be — not every work needs picture-hanging hooks. Leaning a larger fine art print against the wall behind a bookcase can add a stylish installation-type dynamic to your living room. (Read more about how to arrange wall art here.)

Find fine art prints for sale on 1stDibs today.