Cubism: Picasso, Braque, and the Foundations of Modern Vision

Introduction to Cubism

This week's lecture focuses on Cubism, a revolutionary art movement founded by two prominent artists: Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. Our central question is, "What is Cubism?"

Cubism was founded by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) and Georges Braque (1882-1963). Picasso lived to be 91 years old, while Braque, just one year younger, lived until 1963. A photograph from the Musee Nacional Picasso in Paris shows the two artists. Their relationship was characterized by a playful friendship, mutual critique, and a strong rivalry that pushed each other to innovate. Braque notably described their bond as "a union based on the independence of each," signifying how their individual explorations converged and challenged one another.

Pablo Picasso: Early Life and Influences

Pablo Ruiz Picasso was born in 1881 in Malaga, a city in the southern Andalucian region of Spain. At the age of 13, his family moved to Barcelona in the northern Catalonian region, as his father accepted a position at the Barcelona School of Fine Arts. Consequently, Picasso considered himself Catalan rather than Andalusian. While a Spanish artist, Picasso spent most of his time in Paris, France, a major avant-garde city center that attracted many artists during the 19^{th} and 20^{th} centuries.

Picasso received early training from his father, who was both a painter and an art teacher. His father's position in Barcelona allowed Picasso to enroll in advanced courses at the school. In 1897, his father encouraged him to study in Madrid, where Picasso spent 8-9 months. During this time, he frequently visited the Prado Museum, drawing inspiration from the works of Diego Velázquez.

In 1900, at the turn of the century, Picasso traveled to Paris with his close friend, Carls Casagemas. His first painting created in Paris, Le Moulin de la Galette (1900), depicts the same location as works by other artists studied in this class: Renoir (Impressionist) and Toulouse-Lautrec (Post-Impressionist). While Renoir's depiction is bright and cheerful, Picasso's, like Toulouse-Lautrec's, portrays a nighttime setting and explores artificial lighting. This painting foreshadows Picasso's future artistic direction.

Picasso's Blue Period (1901-1904)

Picasso's Blue Period was profoundly influenced by the tragic loss of his friend, Carls Casagemas. During this time, his palette was predominantly blue, and his subject matter centered around human misery, reflecting his deep grief and contemplation. He was also highly influenced by El Greco and the Mannerist painters of the 16^{th} century.

Mannerism emerged at the end of the High Renaissance and is characterized by the elongation and unrealistic portrayal of the human figure. Mannerist painters were less concerned with naturalism and more with exaggerating or elongating body parts to convey elegance. Picasso adopted this style, seen in features like elongated, almost "boneless" hands, sharp angular characteristics, and an overall expressive distortion of the human form.

Gertrude Stein Portrait (1906)

In 1906, Picasso painted an influential portrait of Gertrude Stein, the individual who introduced him to Matisse. Stein reportedly sat for Picasso 90 times for this portrait. Despite numerous sittings, Picasso ultimately re-painted her face from his imagination or memory. The style of the eyes in this portrait is significant as it foreshadows the eye forms that would later appear in his Cubist paintings.

Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907)

Considered a pivotal proto-Cubist work, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (The Young Ladies of Avignon) was created in 1907. This large painting, approximately 8 feet by 7 or 7.5 feet, is housed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

The painting is renowned for boldly breaking away from previous pictorial and iconographic conventions. However, it simultaneously maintains a dialogue with Renaissance art, demonstrating that while Cubists shattered past lessons, they remained acutely aware of art historical traditions. Picasso worked on Les Demoiselles for two months (June-July 1907), employing the traditional academic method of creating numerous preparatory studies, which allows insight into his artistic process and evolution of the final work.

Key characteristics of Les Demoiselles d'Avignon:

Compressed space and shallow depth: Achieved through sharp angular forms in the background, which limit the perceived distance between foreground and background.
Flattened figures and angular forms: The bodies of the five young women, believed to be prostitutes from Avignon Street (a notorious red-light district in Barcelona), appear flat, with proximity indicated by overlapping.
Distorted perspectives: Picasso plays with differing viewpoints, presenting a frontal view of the eyes alongside a profile view of the nose on the same figure.
Awkward and classical poses: The seated figure on the right is exceptionally awkward, with her body facing the other women while her head is completely turned to face the viewer. The two central women are depicted in a classical Venus pose, while the woman on the left is in a profile contrapposto pose, reminiscent of ancient Egyptian statues.
Mask-like faces: The most shocking aspect to contemporary viewers was the two women on the right, whose faces resemble masks. Initially, viewers were horrified, shocked, and even disgusted by the painting.

Picasso's influences for this work included various paintings (detailed in Chapter 7) and, significantly, African and Oceanic sculpture and masks. In 1907, the year of the painting's creation, Picasso visited Paris's ethnographic museum. He later stated that he reworked the figures after this visit, adding the masks to the faces on the right side of the canvas, demonstrating the profound influence of these non-Western art forms.

Georges Braque: Early Life and Influences

Georges Braque was one year younger than Picasso. A photograph of Braque taken by Picasso is housed at the Musee Nacional Picasso in Paris, highlighting their close artistic relationship. Like Picasso, Braque came from an artistic family; his father and grandfather were amateur painters.

Born in 1882, Braque spent his childhood in locations famously depicted by Impressionist painters: Argenteuil (a Paris suburb along the Seine, frequented by Monet and Renoir) and Le Havre, Normandy (site of Monet's Impression, Sunrise, which gave Impressionism its name). He studied at Lou Havre Ecole des Beaux Arts and undertook an apprenticeship as a house painter and decorator. This decorative experience later influenced his work, particularly his interest in Trompe l'oeil (French for "deceives the eye"), an illusionistic technique that deceives the viewer's perception.

Braque's turn towards Cubism was most significantly influenced by the painting style of Paul Cézanne. In works like his paintings of L'Estaque, Braque adopted Cézanne's technique of using patches of color and outlining (often in blue) to establish a sense of volume and three-dimensionality, rather than relying on traditional one-point perspective or chiaroscuro. This approach allowed him to construct forms volumetrically using color and line.

Braque met Picasso after completing his L'Estaque works in 1907. After this meeting, Braque's focus shifted towards depicting the human form, as seen in his well-known painting The Large Nude (1908), which marked a clear departure from Fauvism.

His painting Houses at L'Estaque (1908) is crucial for understanding the genesis of Cubism:

The houses and trees are simplified, and geometric forms are emphasized.
These geometric forms appear to come forward rather than recede backward, challenging traditional depth perception.
Through this work, Braque achieved the Impressionist goal of conveying an object or scene from multiple angles simultaneously. This is a core tenet of Cubism: to present objects as if one has walked all the way around them, showing various viewpoints at once.

Reflection 2 Assignment: Cubism and Trompe l'oeil

Reflection 2 focuses on Cubism and its connection to the Trompe l'oeil tradition. The assignment requires students to watch a 25-minute virtual exhibition tour titled "Cubism and the Trompe l'oeil Tradition," featuring curators Emily Braun and Elizabeth Cowling from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (exhibition ran 2022-2023). The video is available on Canvas in the Week 5 module.

Students must complete three questions in a Word document, ensuring a line space between each paragraph and adhering to specific sentence length requirements. MLA formatting is required, including in-text citations and a complete bibliography.

Question 1: Artwork Analysis of Trompe l'oeil

Select one artwork from the provided worksheet (discussed in Chapter 7) that employs, engages, or questions the Trompe l'oeil tradition.

Identify the artwork, artist, year of creation, and materials used.
Explain in detail how the artist created the work, breaking down the materials and their application to achieve the desired effect.
Length: 4-7 complete and detailed sentences. Points will be deducted for not meeting the minimum sentence requirement or for failing to visually explain/support claims.

Question 2: Connecting Cubism to Trompe l'oeil

Explain in detail how the selected artwork employs, engages, or questions the Trompe l'oeil tradition.

This section requires integrating insights from the exhibition tour, where the curators explain that Cubist paintings are connected to a longer tradition of Trompe l'oeil originating in 17^{th}-century painting.
Emphasize how Cubist painters were mindful of this historical dialogue, questioning and re-thinking how elements are arranged, similar to Renaissance masters.
Length: 6-8 complete and detailed sentences.

Question 3: Personal Artistic Preference

This question encourages students to start thinking about their art analysis worksheet topic.

Identify the type of modern art, stylistic development, or art movement you are most drawn to at this point in the semester.
State the chapter where these works are found.
Identify the specific art type you want to explore (painting, sculpture, architecture, mixed media art, installation art, or performance art).
Explain why this particular art form appeals to you and "what this art will do that other artworks will not do" (e.g., "What does sculpture do that painting doesn't?").

Bibliography and Citation Guidelines

Use MLA formatting, consulting the Purdue OWL website for assistance.
A complete bibliography citation is required at the bottom of the assignment.
In-text citations must be used within the paragraphs.
Updated MLA guideline: There is no comma between the author's name and the date in bibliography citations (e.g., Arneson and Mansfield 2023 page 43).
When citing the virtual exhibition, the primary entry in the bibliography should be "The Met" (Metropolitan Museum of Art). In your sentences, credit the curators explicitly, for example: "According to Emily Braun…" followed by the in-text citation (The Met, year of the article).

Students are encouraged to carefully consider how Cubist painters play with and reinterpret traditional techniques previously introduced in art history. Attending office hours for questions is recommended.