Cubism Notes

Cubism (1907-1914)

Background

  • Cubism was developed by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque between 1907 and 1914.
  • Many artists worked in variations of Cubism up until 1925.
  • Renaissance artists worked perceptually, where the eye rules and the artwork is naturalistic, resembling a window upon the world with depth created by perspective.
  • This idea was challenged in different ways:
    • Emotional responses (van Gogh, German Expressionism).
    • Kandinsky: Abstract paintings expressing his spiritual side.
    • Fauvism: Liberated color from descriptive use.
  • Cubism works conceptually. The brain rules, and the Cubist artist is concerned with what he knows. For example, knowing a table has four legs, the artist shows all of them.
Example Artists and Artworks:
  • Georges Braque: Houses at L'Estaque (1908).
  • Pablo Picasso: Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907).

Influences

  • African Art: Picasso and Braque collected African masks.
    • Masks work conceptually; ideas about the subject are more important than naturalistic depictions, leading to simplified and stylized forms.
  • Cézanne:
    • Ideas about numerous viewpoints and the underlying structure of things (cone, cylinder, sphere).
    • Ideas about the flatness of painting, emphasizing a two-dimensional view.

Cubism Phases

  • Cézanne Phase (1907 – 1909)
  • Analytical Phase (1910 – 1911)
  • Synthetic Phase (1912 – 1914 and later)

Cézanne Phase

  • Picasso and Braque worked individually.
  • Cézanne’s influence was taken further, recreating different viewpoints and breaking up forms into sharp, angular shapes.
  • Considerations:
    • Scene?
    • Shape?
    • Perspective?
    • Color?
Example Artworks:
  • Pablo Picasso: The Factory, Horta de Ebro (1909).
  • Georges Braque: Houses at L’Estaque (1908).

Analytical Phase

  • Analytical means to break up.
  • Picasso and Braque worked together; their works are almost indistinguishable.
  • Themes included still-lives and portraits.
  • Simultaneity: Multiple viewpoints, showing the subject from all around, introducing the concept of time.
  • Space: Flattened (foreground vs. background).
  • Visual investigation emphasized that the canvas is flat.
  • Shape: Subjects and space are broken up (analytically) into small geometrically shaped areas, known as facets.
  • Color: Restricted to ochres, greens, and browns to avoid being seduced by color.
  • Brushstrokes: Broken strokes enrich the surface and distinguish between facets.
  • Visual clues: Some shape or detail remains to allow recognition of the subject, maintaining a basis in reality.
  • Canvases: Later, they started using oval-shaped canvases.
Example Artworks:
  • Pablo Picasso: Girl with a Mandolin (1910).
  • Pablo Picasso: Ma Jolie (1911-12).
  • Pablo Picasso: Ambroise Vollard (1910).
  • Pablo Picasso: The Guitar Player (1910).

Synthetic Phase

  • Considerations:
    • Materials?
    • Space?
    • Color?
    • Texture?
    • Reality?
  • Picasso and Braque were joined by Juan Gris.
  • Discovery of collage and paper collé was important; Picasso glued paper onto his canvas.
  • Art became increasingly abstract and difficult to read but still aimed to maintain a link to reality.
  • First, pieces of paper were glued to create a free composition before adding ‘reality’ with paint.
  • Synthesis: Combination of different elements.
  • The picture plane became less complex.
  • Areas of color evolved.
  • A very flat space is presented.
  • Texture is introduced.
  • No illusionistic space was created.
  • Almost exclusively still lives.
Example Artworks:
  • Pablo Picasso: Violin with Fruit (1913).
  • Pablo Picasso: Still Life with Chair Caning (1912).

Analyzing the Phases: Examples

Houses at L’Estaque (1908) by Georges Braque
  • Subject Matter: Landscape scene with trees and simplified houses.
  • Color: Main colors are green, yellow ochre, and grays; colors are very muted and dull.
  • Form: Created using dark blending on the corners and sides of the geometric shapes to indicate shadows and create tone.
  • Space: There isn’t much open space except for the top right corner where it looks like a sliver of the sky can be seen.
  • Technique: Creating geometric shapes then blending colors into them.
The Portuguese (1911) by Georges Braque
  • Subject Matter: Collection of geometric shapes and stenciled lettering.
  • Color: Main colors are yellow ochres and shades of gray/black, very monotone.
  • Form: Form isn’t very prominent as most of the artwork appears very two-dimensional, except for where black has been shaded in to create depth and tone.
  • Space: There is open space surrounding the outside of the painting, creating a vignette.
  • Technique: Writing words with stencils, then painting over and blending the colors.
Newspaper, Bottle, Packet of Tobacco (1914) by Georges Braque
  • Subject Matter: Shows an abstracted and distorted newspaper, bottle, and packet of tobacco.
  • Color: The only colors are those from the cardboard the artist has pasted onto the artwork; everything else is shades of white and black.
  • Form: Tone was created with charcoal blended and shaded to make objects appear curved and to add shadows.
  • Space: The entire background of the art piece is negative space.
  • Technique: Collage and paper collé; sticking paper onto canvas. The materials used include charcoal, collage, gouache, and pencil on cardboard. Specifically, stick paper onto a flat surface.