Cubism was a truly revolutionary style of modern art during the
early twentieth century. It was developed by Pablo Picasso and George Braque between
1907 and 1914. It is often said that the work of Paul Cezanne set the stage for
cubism.
Cubism depicted real people, objects and places not drawn from a fixed viewpoint but as if it were viewed from different angles. Cubist works are flattened, two dimensional, geometric forms. The colours consist of a fairly natural palette. Cubist painters rejected the traditional use of perspective and copying from nature and reduced and fractured objects into geometric forms and composition of planes. It was a new way of seeing which reflected a modern age.
Cubism had two distinct phases. The early phase called Analytical Cubism (1907-1912) and Synthetic Cubism (1912 onwards).
Cubist research spread and new names emerged such as Juan Gris, Duchamp-Villion Raymond, Duchamp Marcel and Alexander Archipenko to mention a few.
Cubism depicted real people, objects and places not drawn from a fixed viewpoint but as if it were viewed from different angles. Cubist works are flattened, two dimensional, geometric forms. The colours consist of a fairly natural palette. Cubist painters rejected the traditional use of perspective and copying from nature and reduced and fractured objects into geometric forms and composition of planes. It was a new way of seeing which reflected a modern age.
Cubism had two distinct phases. The early phase called Analytical Cubism (1907-1912) and Synthetic Cubism (1912 onwards).
Cubist research spread and new names emerged such as Juan Gris, Duchamp-Villion Raymond, Duchamp Marcel and Alexander Archipenko to mention a few.
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907) by Pablo Picasso
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon marked the arrival of cubism. The painting depicts five nude female figures from the red-light district of Barcelona. The figures are composed of flat, simplified, angular forms. The faces were influenced by Oceanic and African masks. In this painting Picasso depicts human figures by making use of several viewpoints, which became one of the characteristic features of Cubism. The women's poses suggest sexual invitation. It is a rough line drawing, primitive and naive in which the woman have stylised faces and staring eyes. The figures and areas of the background are painted in colours ranging from whitish yellow to brown.The blue divides the right group from the left.
Le Portugais (1911) by Georges Braque
It is very difficult to grasp the subject when looking at the painting for the first time. It is a rendering of a guitar player in a Cafe. The guitar player which is a barely recognisable figure holds the guitar in his lap. The subject is depicted in many pieces of broken form. The vertical and horizontal lines form a web-like structure. Clues help us to reconstruct the image. The round, sound hole and the strings of the guitar enable the viewer to construct an image of a musical instrument. Braque also included the letters BAL and numerals. The palette is limited to brown and greyish tones. Typical cubist colours. Braque wants to convey meaning and ideas more than beauty in his painting.
It is very difficult to grasp the subject when looking at the painting for the first time. It is a rendering of a guitar player in a Cafe. The guitar player which is a barely recognisable figure holds the guitar in his lap. The subject is depicted in many pieces of broken form. The vertical and horizontal lines form a web-like structure. Clues help us to reconstruct the image. The round, sound hole and the strings of the guitar enable the viewer to construct an image of a musical instrument. Braque also included the letters BAL and numerals. The palette is limited to brown and greyish tones. Typical cubist colours. Braque wants to convey meaning and ideas more than beauty in his painting.
Bibliography
(online) Avalibale at:< http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cube/hd_cube.htm (Accessed 22nd April 2014)
(online) Avalibale at:< http://www.artyfactory.com/art_appreciation/art_movements/cubism.htm (Accessed 22nd April 2014)
(online) Avalibale at:< http://www.pablopicasso.org/avignon.jsp (Accessed 22nd April 2014)
(online) Avalibale at:<https://suite.io/alan-foljambe/3nfa2av (Accessed 22nd April 2014)
(online) Avalibale at:< http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/braque-the-portuguese.html (Accessed 22nd April 2014)
Books
Carsten, P.W.,2003.Picasso, VG Bild- Kunst, Bonn
(online) Avalibale at:< http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cube/hd_cube.htm (Accessed 22nd April 2014)
(online) Avalibale at:< http://www.artyfactory.com/art_appreciation/art_movements/cubism.htm (Accessed 22nd April 2014)
(online) Avalibale at:< http://www.pablopicasso.org/avignon.jsp (Accessed 22nd April 2014)
(online) Avalibale at:<https://suite.io/alan-foljambe/3nfa2av (Accessed 22nd April 2014)
(online) Avalibale at:< http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/braque-the-portuguese.html (Accessed 22nd April 2014)
Books
Carsten, P.W.,2003.Picasso, VG Bild- Kunst, Bonn