The history & style of Cubism
During the 20th century (1907-1914) a very influential art movement began in Paris which brought revolution in visual arts and also had its strong impact on music, literature, ballet and architecture. Though this movement was invented primarily by artists Pablo Picasso and George Braque, Paul Cezanne is considered the forerunner of Cubism and his approach developed the key style of the movement. Later artists such as Jean Metzinger, Albert Gleizes, Robert Delaunay, Henri Le Fauconnier, Juan Gris, and Fernand Léger also worked in the same style and concept, becoming a part of Cubism.
Coining of the term
The term Cubism came from the concept- composition of cubes. Art critic Louis Vauxcelles gave this name after seeing Braque’s work “Houses at L’Estaque”. This work consisting of cylindrical shapes, was hugely inspired from Cezanne’s use of geometric forms. This fragmentation of shapes featured as the key style of the movement where artists rejected the traditional representation of perspective. Instead there was an urge to show objects from different angles creating multiple planes on the canvas and dimensions were rendered through the implementation of different color tones.
Types of styles in Cubism
Cubism developed into three distinct styles namely, Cezanian Cubism, Analytical cubism and Synthetic Cubism. The late works of Paul Cezanne were exhibited in Salon d’Automne in 1907 after his death. Picasso and George Braque had gone to this retrospective and they started thinking about space and forms from new angles. Picasso emphasized on the concept mentioned by Cezanne where the latter has talked about treating nature with cones, cylindrical shapes and spheres.
The artists started to represent objects from different view points hence introducing the concept of multiple perspectives for the first time in visual art. This breaking down the subject of painting into multiple fragments was seen in the initial stage of the movement which came to be known as Analytical Cubism. Complicated shapes, muted tones of colors, overlapping planes are popular features of this type of Cubism.
Later during 1912 there was a lot of experimentation done on forms of collage and low relief sculptures focusing on textures, and no intentional representation of depth. Use of patterns and geometric forms were seen and colors used were very bright unlike Analytical Cubism. This late phase of Cubism was called Synthetic Cubism.
Works of Analytical Cubism:
Works of Synthetic Cubism:
Influence of African Art
It is often opined by scholars that traditional African art, especially sculptures and masks have an immense impact on the stylization of Cubist approach of creating 2D and 3D art. We have observed primitivism as a dominant subject during the late phase of Expressionist artworks. And these primitive forms of art were considered aesthetically rich by Western painters and sculptors. The ethnic groups and tribes of Africaa were already carving sculptures in geometric forms, abstracting the human body and face, for hundreds of years. Picasso was fascinated by the bold contouring, sophisticated use of angular planes and considered it to be spiritual. The entire school of Paris was greatly influenced by this aboriginal form of art. However there is little acknowledgement that these African artworks have largely influenced Cubist paintings and sculptures. This is why many art historians have criticized Picasso’s conceptual works to be “stolen” and not “invented”.
Colors of Cubism
The color palette of Cubism is limited to shades of grays and ochres. During the first phase of the movement also known as Analytical cubism colors are muted and we see much use of earthy tones. The reason is painters were more focused on the representation of multiple dimensions and colors were just used to signify a hint of three dimensionality of the shapes used to fragment the subject of the painting. Unlike Expressionism artworks, colors did not carry any symbolic meaning or express emotion. Colors used in Cubism did not have their own identity as artists intended to bring up a new reality in their creations. Later in Synthetic Cubism we see use of brighter colors to balance the juxtaposition of shapes and patterns in the collage like artworks.
The fourth Dimension in Art
Maurice Princet, a French accountant, was interested in reading about geometry and fourth dimension. He gave Picasso a book written by Esprit Jouffret which contained elaborated drawings on fourth dimensions and discussed how a 3D object looks from the different views including the top, underneath and sides as well. Princet was close to artists and his profound knowledge of mathematics helped the painters to infuse the concepts of geometry and fourth dimension into their creations. Pablo Picasso has been credited with the introduction of the fourth dimension in visual art where multiple views are depicted. For example the portrait of a girl would be drawn with all angles showing her front, back, sides, top and bottom. Later George Braque was also greatly inspired from this approach and he started to experiment and capture the fourth dimension in his paintings. Jean Metzinger is also credited for establishing mathematical rules in his works. He was a close friend of Maurice Princet and perfected the depiction of 3D objects from multiple views.
The Forerunner of Cubism
Mainly working during the Post-Impressionist era, Paul Cezanne is said to have given birth to the style of Cubism. His geometric compositions and introduction of multiple planes in paintings influenced the painters to think from different perspectives and later formulated the central idea of Cubism. Cezanne abandoned the concept of representing linear perspective and tried to show more than one view of the subjects in a composition. He also broke down all the elements visible in nature into geometric forms and patterns hence abstracting the reality to build up the “new real” in painting. For example the tree was created with a combination of cylinders while the apple or oranges became spheres. Instead of modifying the shapes into realistic forms he retained the existence of primary shapes and interrupted with how things actually existed in nature. This fragmented use of shape and flattened colors were adapted by Picasso and Braque which later became the trademark of Cubism.
Paintings of Cezanne that gave birth of Cubism :
Prime artists of Cubism
Pablo Picasso is considered as one of the prime figures of this art movement. He had been experimenting with perspectives and dimensions in painting after getting influenced from works of Cezanne and African masks. Picasso started painting at a young age and he was trained in traditional art forms. Gradually he moved from realism to abstraction in painting and also worked in domains of sculpture and collage. As he has experimented with techniques, implemented various theories in his works, scholars have classified his working periods as “Blue Period”, “Rose period” and “African influenced period”. He is also known for his renowned anti war painting “Guernica” which reflects the bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil war. Apart from his own practice, he used his art to raise voice against the political happenings of the society.
Early works of Pablo Picasso:
Late works of Picasso showing Cubist style:
Another artist who was also a close friend of Picasso, was George Braque. Braque and Picasso have been often called as the two pillars or pioneers of Cubism. They worked together and their styles were so familiar that it was often hard to distinguish their paintings. He began to work as an Impressionist but was soon impressed by the styles of Fauvism hence we see the use of brighter colors at an initial stage. He exhibited many works following this style and slowly after attending the retrospective of Paul Cezanne, his new style of Cubism began where he started to fragment the images.
Works of George Braque representing Fauvist & Impressionist approach:
Works of George Braque showing Cubist approach:
Cubist Sculptures:
There was an urge to work with the fragmented concept and multiple dimensions of Cubism in sculptures too and it grew up in parallel along with paintings. These sculptures were dynamic and were inspired from the conical and cylindrical representation abstracting the human features and molding it into a spontaneous geometricity. This helped to render multiple shifting viewpoints highlighting the concept of the fourth dimension and creating flat hyperbolic surfaces. Forms were twisted and fragmented into a number of planes similar to the paintings. The sculptures served as a supporting role to the paintings which were already dealing with the concept of multiple simultaneous dimensions. Artists played with lines, volume and perspectives to create a new language in three dimension art with Cubist approach.
Decline of the movement
Although many artists have led to the advent of abstraction, many scholars conclude that Cubism is considered as the first abstract movement in the Western history of Visual Art. It was inspired from mathematical concepts and had a scientific approach having a limited color palette bringing up a new way of looking at nature and objects. However World War I had adverse effects on this movement and the political situation was not in favor of art. Cubism’s influence on modern art is continued to be felt and it has an immense impact on the movements such as Futurism and Surrealism.
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