Cubism

Cubism received its name from the harsh insults art critics lashed out with against the style upon its first exhibition in Paris about 1910. The original Cubist artists were Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) and Georges Braque (1882-1963) who were introduced to each by Guillaume Apollinaire who went on to act as spokesman for the Cubist artists.

They were joined later by Juan Gris (1887-1927), Jean Metzinger (1883-1956), Fernand Leger (1881-1955), Albert Gleizes (1881-1953) and the married couple Robert (1885-1941) and Sonia Delaunay (1885-1979).

Cubism was (in Picasso's terms):
.... a manifestation of a vague desire on the part of those of us who participated in it to get back to some kind of order ... We were trying to move in a direction opposite to Impressionism. That was the reason we abandoned colour, emotion, sensation, and everything that had been introduced by the Impressionists, to search again for an architectonic basis in the composition, trying to make an order of it... 1

The very first work to display Cubist features was Picasso's 'Les Demoiselles d'Avignon'; upon seeing this Braque realised its revolutionary nature. Braque's first Cubist work was the giant 'Standing Nude'. Cubism originally depicted landscapes; these were created in 1908 when both Picasso and Braque left Paris to paint in the countryside. Their collaboration ceased on the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. By 1910 many less talented artists were using the Cubist style, with variations on the innovations of Picasso and Braque. These artists produced many artworks until 1925.

No manifesto was written on Cubism due to the private nature of both Braque and Picasso. Subsequently, their own views on their art is largely unknown. It is clear that: Cubism was not intended to be an abstract art, but rather to be representational; and that both artists rejected the idea that art should represent the world exactly as we see it, instead they showed things in a less literal, more conceptual way.

Cubism drew its influence from: Cezanne's structural analysis in his oil landscapes, e.g. 'La Montagne Sainte Victorie' c.1887; Gauguin's figurative landscapes, e.g. 'Haymaking' 1889; and African tribal Art such as Gabon masks. Europeans were greatly influenced by African and Oceanic Art during the late 1890s and early 1900s. African sculpture, with its bold shapes and lines, had a great impact on Cubism. Maurice de Vlaminck became a keen admirer and collector of these African masks after seeing them in a Paris anthropological museum. He purchased similar masks and his excitement filtered through to Matisse, Derain, Gris and later Picasso, who all became collectors as well. by the 1920s African art exhibitions were common in Paris and other European cities. This was unusual as artists borrowed from a completely different culture. The horrific expressions and simplistic design of many of the masks inspired Picasso.

Cubism has the effect of an assemblage of geometrical figures.

Cubism's aim was to depict the permanent structure of things as perceived in their solid tangible reality.

The Cubist movement ended c. 1920 but its influence was strong until the 1940s.

Technique

There are three techniques or 'sub-styles' within Cubism; they are Analytical Cubism, Synthetic Cubism and Cubist Sculpture. They were used to depict landscapes, still life and portraits.

Analytical Cubism is named after the painstakingly analytical approach to form and shape and was employed by Braque and Picasso between 1909 and 1911. These two artists worked so closely and similarly that there works from the period are indistinguishable if unsigned. It involved the restriction of colour range and subject matter, and made the picture space artificially shallow. Picasso depicted objects as a series of planes as they would be seen from a variety of different viewpoints, thus breaking down the subject into its component shapes. Braque concentrated on materialising the space around shapes into a comparable array of shifting shard-like elements. They subsequently created a new pictorial perspective. Analytical works were coloured in either complete monochrome or a selection of similar colours close to monochromy so as to allow concentration on form.

Analytical Cubism climaxed in 1911. Before its evolution into Synthetic Cubism, Analytical Cubism (with Picasso's bold creative energy) achieved a level of abstraction that was so close to pure, it seemed Cubism would reach its natural conclusion there. Picasso and Braque realised in 1910 that their technique had shifted too far away from visual description and too close to pictorial architecture.

Synthetic Cubism, from 1912 onwards, experimented with collages, sticking pieces of ready-made medium (e.g. newspaper, matchboxes etc.), on to canvas and combining them with drawing or painting. This was seen in Picasso's 'Still Life with Chair Caning'. It also used the technique invented by Braque named papier collé which involved pasting down plain or patterned paper onto the painting to be painted over as if they were not there. This made viewers wonder whether the picture painted or pattern pasted on was the most relevant to the subject matter.

Synthetic Cubism developed to accommodate the new unexpected ideas through the new media of collage and papier collé. Cubists gained control over the colour and texture in a way they had formerly only been able to use in the reduction of real objects to lines, planes and values. They were then able to exploit their expressive and constructive elements.

Cubist Sculpture brought the simplified shapes of Cubist painting together with the three dimensional modelling medium of sculpture. The first Cubist sculpture was made by Picasso in 1909 and was titled 'Head of a Woman'. However Picasso did experiment with abstract sculpture as early as 1907 when he discovered, and was influenced by, African masks. Cubist sculpture was mostly reminiscent of Analytical Cubism in its stripping away of illusionist details to reveal the fundamental form contained in each individual subject, be it human or still-life. Picasso also developed a form of Synthetic Cubist Sculpture that incorporated 'found objects'. Picasso was the first sculptor to include 'found objects' and he subsequently inspired the revolution in sculpture in the twentieth century; ready-made and 'Junk sculpture' was based on his ideas.

Pablo Picasso's biography is included.

This Summary was written by myself.
Please feel free to use this as a resource, not an assignment.
If you have any questions, suggestions or further information please email me.

Footnote

1 Dore Ashton, 'Picasso on Art', Thames & Hudson; London, 1972, pg.59

Bibliography

Hopwood, G., 'Handbook of Art', North Clayton; The Specialty Press, 1979.
Gardner, H., 'Art Through The Ages', New York; Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1975. Lucie-Smith, E., 'Art Today', Oxford; Phaidon, 1983.
Read, H., 'A Concise History of Modern Painting', New York; Praeger Publishers, 1974.
Read, H., 'A Concise History Of Modern Sculpture', London; Thames and Hudson, 1974.
Williams, D. and Wilson B. V., 'From Caves To Canvas, An Introduction To Western Art', Sydney; McGraw-Hill, 1992.
'The Great Artists: Part 71, Picasso', London; Marshall Cavendish, 1986.
Arnason, H. H., 'A History of Modern Art -3rd Edition', New York; Harry N. Abrams, 1986.
'Masterpieces of The Twentieth Century; The Beyeler Collection', Sydney; The Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1997.
Hughes, R., 'The Shock of The New', London; British Broadcasting Corporation, 1980.
Feldman, E. B., 'Varieties of Visual Experience -2nd Edition', New York; Prentice-Hall, 1981.

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