Cubism
Cubism, developed by Picasso and Braque in Paris from about 1907, abandoned the single fixed viewpoint that had governed Western painting since the Renaissance. Objects and figures were taken apart and reassembled as flat, overlapping planes, so several sides of a thing are seen at once. Analytic Cubism (c. 1908-1912) reduced form to a near-monochrome grid of facets; Synthetic Cubism (c. 1912-1920s) rebuilt imagery from flattened signs, collage fragments, and bold color. It is arguably the most consequential art movement of the 20th century: nearly every later modernist experiment descends from it.
Defining characteristics
- Multiple viewpoints shown simultaneously on a flat surface
- Forms fragmented into overlapping geometric planes
- Shallow, compressed space instead of deep perspective
- Analytic phase: near-monochrome (ochre, grey) facets
- Synthetic phase: collage, pasted paper, bold flat color, sign-like forms
- Subject matter stripped down to near-abstraction (guitars, bottles, faces)
Key figures
- Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) — Co-founder; Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907) is the movement's opening shot
- Georges Braque (1882-1963) — Co-founder; drove Analytic Cubism and invented papier collé
- Juan Gris (1887-1927) — Gave Synthetic Cubism its most rigorous, architectural clarity
- Fernand Léger (1881-1955) — Extended Cubism into bold, mechanical, colorful form
- Robert Delaunay (1885-1941) — Pushed Cubist fragmentation toward pure color (Orphism)
Example works
- Les Demoiselles d'Avignon — Pablo Picasso (1907)
- Violin and Candlestick — Georges Braque (1910)
- Three Musicians — Pablo Picasso (1921)
Sources
- Cubism - Wikipedia encyclopedia
- Cubism - The Art Story critical
- Synthetic Cubism - Wikipedia encyclopedia