Orphism

Orphism, or Orphic Cubism, was an offshoot of Cubism named by the poet Guillaume Apollinaire in 1912 that pushed the movement toward pure abstraction and brilliant color. Pioneered by František Kupka and Robert and Sonia Delaunay, it relaunched color during Cubism's monochromatic phase, treating painting as the making of new wholes from forms the artist invents rather than copies from visible reality. Rooted in the color theory of the Neo-Impressionists, the Orphists painted light itself: prismatic contrasts, rhythmic disks and windows, and simultaneity - interrelated states read at once. Premiered at the Salon de la Section d'Or in 1912 and theorized in Apollinaire's Les Peintres Cubistes (1913), Orphism was hailed as a bridge from Cubism to abstract art, and dissolved before World War I.

Defining characteristics

• Pure abstraction assembled from overlapping disks, prisms, arcs and window grids
• Brilliant prismatic color keyed to Neo-Impressionist theories of simultaneous contrast
• Light treated as subject - color meant to radiate from the canvas like electric light
• Simultaneity: interrelated rhythmic states read at once, without a single fixed viewpoint
• Lyrical, musical quality, free of the muted monochrome of analytical Cubism

Key figures

• Robert Delaunay (1885-1941) — Led the movement with rhythmic disk paintings and 'simultaneous windows' of pure color
• Sonia Delaunay (1885-1979) — Extended simultaneous color into painting, textiles and fashion
• František Kupka (1871-1957) — Pioneer of pure abstract color painting; the model for Apollinaire's term
• Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) — Poet and critic who coined 'Orphism' in 1912 and theorized it

Example works

• Amorpha, Fugue in Two Colours — František Kupka (1912)
• Football Players (Les Joueurs de football) — Albert Gleizes (1912-1913)
• L'Oiseau bleu — Jean Metzinger (1913)

Sources

• Orphism - Wikipedia encyclopedia
• Orphism (art) - Wikipedia encyclopedia

← Back to the catalog