AM 130: Cubism

What is Cubism and Dada?

To show the ‘concept’ of an object rather than creating a detail of the real thing.

To show different views of an object at once, emphasizing time, space & the Machine age.

To simplify objects to their most basic, primitive terms.

Pablo Picasso

1888-1973

Considered most influential artist of 20th Century.

Paul Cezanne

Post-Impressionist artist.

Paul Cézanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire, 1902–04, oil on canvas

Paul Cezanne, Montagne Sainte-Victoire with tall pine tree, 1885

Paul Cézanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire, 1902–04, oil on

canvas

Le Moulin de la Galette, 1900 by Pablo Picasso.

Lola, the artist’s sister, 1901, by Pablo Picasso.

Picasso’s Blue Period

1901-1904

La Vie. La Vie (1903)

Blue Period

Pablo Picasso, Self Portrait, 1901.

Blue Period

The Old Guitarist, 1903 by Pablo Picasso

Blue period

Portrait of Jamie Sabart, 1901

Blue Period

Pablo Picasso, Tragedy, 1903.

Blue Period

Picasso’s Rose Period

1904-1906

Much happier art than before, circus people as subject, reds and warmer colors.

Pablo Picasso, Harlequin Family, 1905.

Rose Period

Pablo Picasso, La Familia de Saltimbanques, 1905. Rose period

Pablo Picasso, Composition with Skull, 1908

Beggining of the cubist era, much more abstract than before

Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles D’Avignon, 1907.

Major influences of cubism era

African Zimba Mask, and Les Demoiselles D’Avignon, 1907.

Pablo Picasso, Three Musicians, 1921.

George Braque, Houses of l'Estaque, 1908.

House Behind Trees by Georges Braque, 1906-07, During his

“Fauve phase”.

Georges Braque - The Round Table

Georges Braque, Musical Instruments, 1908.

Georges Braque, Fruitdish, 1908-09.

Analytical Cubism

Little contrast in color

Complex and systematic design

Faceted shapes, translucent divisions of space

Differing views of the same subject in the same work

Invented by Picasso and George Braque- at the same time, but not really in collaboration

Retains some sort of depth

Pablo Picasso, Portrait of Vollard, 1910, Analystical cubism

Pablo Picasso, Aficionado, 1912.

Analytical Cubism

Synthetic Cubism

Invented by Braque and Picasso

Puts forms back together after breaking them apart

“Collage” comes from French word for “glue”

Foreign materials are pasted onto the design- makes the collage look like a real surface

Scraps are changed and painted on, giving them a double meaning

George Braque, Gillet, 1914.

Synthetic Cubism

Pablo Picasso, Glass and Bottle of Suze, 1912.

Synthetic Cubism

Dada

Started as a reaction to the horrors of WWI and Nihilism

Began independently in Zurich and NY

French for “hobbyhorse”, but the word itself had no meaning

Believed that reason and logic had been responsible for war

Only hope was anarchy, irrationality, and intuition

Pessimism and disgust of the artists helped them reject tradition-

Arp pioneered the use of chance in artwork, releasing him from the role of artist

For Dadaists, the idea of chance comes from the unconsciousness, influenced by Freud

Jean Arp, Collage Arranged According to the Laws of Chance, 1916-17

Hannah Höch, Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada Through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany, 1919–1920, collage, mixed media, (Berlin)

Jean Arp, Mountain, Table, Anchors, Navel. 1925.

Dada

Marcel Duchamp was the central figure

in NY Dada scene

Exhibited his first “ready-made” sculptures - mass-produced common products, selected by the artist.

Free from the opinions of the population- neither good or bad taste.

Forces viewers to see the “artness” of objects

Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending a Staircase, 1912

Dada

Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, 1913.

Dada

Marcel Duchamp, The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (The Large Glass) 1915-23.

Dada