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How did Georges Braque’s style change after Still Life with Playing Cards?

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Georges Braque Braque, photograph by Arnold Newman, 1956

After the creation of Still Life with Playing Cards (1919), Georges Braque’s artistic style underwent a significant shift. Rather than continuing to evolve through the methodical, successive phases of Cubism that had defined his earlier career, his work transitioned into a series of personal variations based on the stylistic heritage he had established before World War I.1

Prior to this point, Braque had moved away from the austere geometry of his earlier work toward forms characterized by looser drawing and freer brushwork, a trend exemplified by Still Life with Playing Cards. Following this transition, he ceased the systematic development that had previously characterized his collaboration with Pablo Picasso and his exploration of Analytical and Synthetic Cubism.1