CUBISMRaji Arunachalam and Brent Piligian

What is it?

• Louis Vauxcelles coined the term Cubism in 1908• Started in the early 20th century • Primary contributors – Picasso and Braque• Challenged conventional forms of art

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The Cubist painters rejected the inherited concept that art should copy nature, or that they should adopt the traditional

techniques of perspective, modeling, and foreshortening. They wanted instead to

emphasize the two-dimensionality of the canvasMetmuseum.net

Alfred H. Barr, Jr.Made the terms “Analytic” and “Synthetic” Cubism popular, through his books on Cubism and Picasso

The Times and Terms of Cubism

Analytic Cubismpre-1912

• “the early phase of cubism, chiefly characterized by a pronounced use of geometric shapes and by a tendency toward a monochromatic use of color.”

• Monochromatic scheme – color was almost nonexistent

• Natural forms were reduced into basic geometric parts on a two-dimensional plane

Synthetic Cubismpost-1912

• “the late phase of cubism, characterized chiefly by an increased use of color and the imitation or introduction of a wide range of textures and material into painting”

• Collage – mix in signs and fragments of ‘real’ things

• Integration of ‘high’ and ‘low’ art, i.e. art made by an artist combined with art made for commercial purposes

Douglas Cooper

• English Art historian

• Proposes another way to divide up the time of the Cubists

• Three sections

• Early Cubism (1906-1908) – Cubism is developed in the studios of Picasso and Braque

• High Cubism (1909-1914) – Gris emerges as an important player

• Late Cubism (1914-1921) – the last phase of Cubism; “radical avant-garde movement”

Paul Cezanne

Influences

• African Art

• Spanish Art

• Iberian culture

• Art of Oceania

• El Greco

• Paul Gauguin

KEY PLAYERS IN THE FIELD

• Braque – French painter and sculptor

• Picasso – Spanish painter, sculptor, ceramicist, stage designer, printmaker

• Leger – French painter, sculptor and filmmaker

• Gris – Spanish painter and sculptor

PABLO PICASSO

• Born 1881 in Málaga, Southern Spain, died 1973

• Did you know that Picasso’s acquaintances stopped inviting him to view their artworks and such because he incorporated their ideas into his own artwork better than they could?

Les Desmoiselles d’Avignon

1907

Reservoir at Horta, Horta de Ebro

Summer 1909

Oil on canvas

Analytic Cubism

Still life with a bottle of rum

Painted in 1911 in Céret , a small town in the French Pyrenees that was popular with many Cubists. It was called the “spiritual home of

Cubism”.

Analytic Cubism

Still Life with Chair Caning

1912

Synthetic Cubism

Oil on oil cloth over canvas edged with

rope

Bottle and Wine Glass on

a Table1912

Charcoal, ink, cut and pasted newspaper, and

graphite on paper

Picasso’s Guernica 1937, made in response to the Spanish civil War

Picasso’s Guitar

Sculpture made out of sheet metal

1912

Picasso – Self portrait

During his cubism phase

Did other self portraits as well in different styles

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We were like two mountain climbers

roped togetherHistory of Modern Art, Sixth Edition

Braque’s take on his works with Picasso

Referring to their collaboration with one another and the birth of Cubism

Worked face to face and shared their ideas

GEORGE BRAQUE

• Born in 1882 in Argenteuil, Val-d'Oise, died 1963

• Did you know that Braque spent a year and a half in a lot of military hospitals, and was recommended for receiving the Legion of Honor?

Candlestick and Playing Cards on a Table

Oil on canvas

Analytic Cubism

Violin and Jug

1910

Analytic Cubism

Oil on canvas

Violin and Candlestick

1910

Analytic Cubism

Oil on canvas

Violin and Newspaper

1913

Graphite, charcoal, and oil on canvas

Still Life of Bach

1912

Pasted paper and charcoal on paper

Fruitdish and Glass

1912

Pasted paper and charcoals on paper

Houses at L’Etaque

1907

Oil on canvas

Harbor

1909

Oil on canvas

Piano and Mandola

1909-1910

Oil on canvas

Bottle and Musical

Instruments1918

Papier collé

Crayon, charcoal and white chalk on

collaged paper and corrugated

cardboard on primed board

The Pantry

1920

Oil on canvas

JUAN GRIS

• José Victoriano González-Pérez (better known as Juan Gris) was born in Madrid, Spain in 1887, died 1927 in France

• Known as “The Third Cubist”

Man in the Cafe

1912

Oil on canvas

Still Life before an Open Window, Place Ravignan

1915

Oil on canvas

Synthetic Cubism

Guitar, Bottle and Glass

1914

Pasted papers, gouache and crayon on canvas

Synthetic Cubism

Violin and Checkerboard

1913

Oil on canvas

Synthetic Cubism

Portrait of Pablo Picasso

1912

Oil on canvas

Analytic Cubism

The Book

1913

Oil and papier collé on canvas

Synthetic Cubism

The Open Book

1925

Oil on canvas

Synthetic Cubism

The Bunch of Grapes

1924

Oil on canvas

Synthetic Cubism

Table Overlooking the

Sea

1925

Oil on canvas

Synthetic Cubism

Portrait of the Artist’s Mother

1912

Oil on canvas

Analytic Cubism

FERNAND LÉGER

• Born 1881 in Argentan, France, died 1955 in Gif-sur-Yvette, France

• Rather than following in the footsteps of the founders of Cubism (manipulating planes and forms), Léger concentrated more on color and shape

La femme en bleu(The woman in blue)

1912

Oil on canvas

Contrast of Forms

1913

Oil on burlap

One of the series Contrast of Forms

The bargeman

1918

Oil on canvas

Three Women

1921 – 1922

Oil on Canvas

Soldier with a Pipe

1916

Oil on Canvas

“Cubism is not either a seed or a fetus, but an art dealing

primarily with forms, and when a form is realized it is

there to live its own life”

Marius de Zayas, 1923