Title: CUBISM
1CUBISM
2"M. Braque scorns form and reduces everything,
sites, figures and houses, to geometric schemas
and cubes."
- Louis Vauxcelles, art critic on seeing Georges
Braques exhibition at the Daniel-Henry
Kahnweiler Gallery in 1908.
3What is Cubism?
- An influential avant-garde art movement in the
early 20th century. - Cubist painters rejected the traditional concept
that art should be a direct representation or
copy of nature. They ignored traditional
techniques such as natural perspectives,
modelling and foreshortening. - The Cubist manner of painting heavily reduced and
fractured objects into geometric lines, forms and
shapes.
4Context A New World Era
- The early 20th century marked CHANGE.
- Major discoveries in science and technology (e.g.
Einsteins Theory of Relativity) - Advancements in transport (e.g. First airplane
flight) - Imperialism (Africa, Asia and the Pacific region)
- WWI devastation, fear, doubt, less confidence
etc. - The Atomic Age
- There was increasing demand for art that could be
enjoyed by the general public and not only the
elites. - Picasso and Braque reacted to these changes with
a new artistic style Cubism
5What influenced Cubism?
- Paul Cézanne (French, 1839-1906)
- Cézanne (1904) artists should treat nature in
terms of the cylinder, the sphere and the cone. - Georges Seurat (French, 1859-1891)
- Primitivism and non-Western art, especially
Iberian sculptures and African art. - Fauvism
- Avant-gardism and Modernism in Europe
6How did Cubism develop?
- There were two stages of Cubism
- Analytic Cubism (based more on intellect than
emotion). The style was less literal and more
conceptual i.e. fragmenting into angles, lines
and shapes. - Synthetic Cubism collage The artists attached
bits of newspaper, cloth and other objects on the
paintings.
7Key Cubist Artists
- Pablo Picasso
- Georges Braque
- Cubism was developed by these artists.
- Other Cubist artists were..
- Juan Gris
- Jean Metzinger
8Pablo Picasso
9Girl with a Mandolin, Picasso, 1910, Oil on canvas
- A girl (Fanny Tellier) plays the mandolin, which
is a plucked string instrument.
10Still Life with a Bottle of Rum, Picasso, 1911,
Oil on canvas
- In the upper centre of the picture are what seem
to be the neck and opening of a bottle. Some
spidery black lines to the left of it might
denote sheet music, and the round shape lower
down, the base of a glass. In the center, at the
far right, is the pointed spout of a porrón
(Spanish wine bottle). This is one of the first
works in which Picasso included letter forms. It
has been suggested that the ones shown at the
left, LETR, refer to Le Torero, the magazine for
bullfighting fansPicasso being one of thembut
they might simply be a pun on lettre, French for
"word. http//www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cube/ho
_1999.363.63.htm
11The Accordionist, Picasso, 1911, Oil on canvas
12Still Life with Chair Caning, Picasso
- There are clear shapes of objects newspaper, a
slice of pie, a lemon, a knife and a goblet. The
brushstrokes seem to hover on top of the caning.
13Georges Braque
- By 1906, Braque was a member of the Fauves. After
seeing Picassos Les Demoiselles d Avignon in an
exhibition, he joined Picasso. In 1907 the two
artists began working together to develop a new
style.
14Man with a Guitar, Braque, 1911, Oil on canvas
15Roads near L Estaque, Braque, 1908, Oil on canvas
- fragments of sky interplay with broken planes
of green vegetation, earthy fields and warm
rooftopslight comes from conflicting sources.
16Juan Gris
Still life with Fruit Dish and Mandolin, 1919
17Violin and Playing Cards, Gris, 1913, Oil on
canvas
- On the simulated wood-grain table rest three
playing cards, a violin, and the newspaper Le
Journal. The violin is indicated by different
shaded passages of wood-graining, as also by the
instrument's purple, green, and black "shadows."
Black, sky blue, and purple angular planes enrich
the composition, which is set against a deep
rust-red diamond-patterned background emulating
the wallpaper. http//www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/
11/eusi/ho_1996.403.14.htm
18Cubist Style of Painting
- Picasso and Braque shared an almost identical
style during high Analytic Cubism (1910-12).
Paintings from this time lack the elements of
light, atmosphere and space that give depth and
richness to the natural world. - Subject matter From immediate surroundings based
on life in the new modern era. - Colour Muted, mostly monochromatic browns and
greys not important to the picture. More focus
is placed on form and structure. - Form Figures and objects have been reduced,
fractured and dissected into geometric elements
angles, lines, arcs, shapes etc. The technical
and abstracted forms create a distinct sense of
movement in the overall image. There are still
recognisable objects that help the viewer
understand the painting. Picasso and Braque
reduced the objects to their basic planes and
angles and then reassembled them in a shallow,
ambiguous space. The fragments overlap, forming
geometric patterns, which suggest a
representation of the actual object. -
19Cubist Style of Painting (contd)
- Perspective Picasso and Braque felt that the
most accurate representation of reality in
painting was one that revealed multiple
viewpoints of an object at the same time. - Media Techniques With Synthetic Cubism,
artists collaged using different materials.
Instead of reproducing the look of the materials,
they used the actual materials themselves. - Motifs contemporary still life with musical
instruments, bottles, glasses, newspapers,
playing cards and the human face and figure.
These reflect on everyday life, especially the
social and relaxing aspects (e.g. food, leisure).
Cubism was about looking beyond the literal form
of these contemporary motifs from an intellectual
perspective. - Gris developed a colourful Cubist style of
broad, angular, overlapping planes. His use of
light and modelling forms were more naturalistic
and descriptive.
20What Art Critics Say
- At first glance, Cubism appears to be a
purposeful distortion of visual experience, as if
the artists have consciously tried to shatter and
splinter their subjects into an incredibly
cramped space. But this is only partially true,
and is more a result of visual priorities than
outright mischief. - Art Context and Criticism, John Kissick (1993)
- perhaps the most pivotal movement in Western
Art since the RenaissanceCubism would forever
change the way artists represented the world
around them. - Movements in Art Cubism, Shannon Robinson (2006)