Cubism

Cubism: Definition

Cubism is one of the most important art movements of the early 20th century. This movement was founded in France by the painters Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso around 1907, lasting until the early 1920s. Cubism challenged the status quo and traditional painting methods by introducing flat, geometric, two-dimensional imagery and heavy abstraction and fragmentation.

The first Cubist painting was not created by Braque, however, but by Pablo Picasso: Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907). It depicts five nude women not portrayed in a naturalistic, figurative manner but rather by using flat, split surfaces and reassembling the objects within. African masks inspired the women's faces. This painting served as a watershed moment in the history of art.

Other artists and theorists soon joined the Cubist movement. They included Europeans Albert Gleizes, Henri Le Fauconnier, Jean Metzinger, Robert Delaunay, Fernand Léger, and Juan Gris. The Russian-born Max Weber and French-born Andrew Dasburg were prominent Cubist painters in the United States. Cubism also inspired other abstract movements, such as Futurism, Suprematism, Constructivism, and Dada.

Jean Metzinger, L'Oiseau bleu (The Blue Bird), 1912-1913. Source: Wikiart (U.S. public domain).

History of Cubism: Background

The second half of the 19th century produced several art movements that deviated from the realistic depiction of objects in the physical world. These movements encountered opposition from the mainstream art community. They also provided fertile soil for developing an even more radical vision like the one offered by Cubism.

Impressionism, for example, emphasized the use of brush strokes and texture, focused on light, and depicted subjects, such as landscapes, from a unique point of view. Édouard Manet and Claude Monet are examples of well-known Impressionist artists. Arising in France, Impressionism became an international art movement and included painters from other parts of Europe, Russia, the United States, and even New Zealand.

Impressionism branched off into other movements, such as Pointillism, started by Georges Seurat. Pointillism relies on the notion that the human eye can blend all the tiny dots used in its artworks to create a cohesive, unified image. Individual artists surpassed genre categorization, such as Vincent van Gogh. Van Gogh is considered a Post-Impressionist painter who focused on many subjects, including self-portraits, landscapes, and still life. The Dutch artist's works are known for their rich color, flatness, texture, and the occasional lack of traditional perspective.

Paul Cézanne, Farmer, 1895. Source: Wikipedia Commons (U.S. public domain)

The French artist Paul Cézanne is considered the link between the late 19th-century art movements, like Impressionism and early 20th-century Cubism. Cézanne is known for using repetitive brushstrokes, compression of forms, and unusual angles, which are unique and recognizable. The artist painted various subjects, including people, landscapes, and still life. Cézanne impacted several noteworthy painters, including Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. The painting mentioned above Maisons et Arbre (Houses at l'Estaque) by Georges Braque, specifically the trees, was influenced by Cezanne.

Cubism: Facts

Cubism flourished between approximately 1907 and the early 1920s. Most art historians organize this art movement into thematic categories.

History of Cubism: A Timeline

Others, such as the scholar Douglas Cooper, divide Cubism into chronological periods:

Analytical Cubism was a time when the works of Braque and Picasso displayed stylistic similarities. Both artists investigated form and opted for using straight lines and right angles. The two artists also used simple color combinations, sometimes reducing the paintings to look monochromatic. The color was subordinate to shape: shapes were used to present objects from multiple points of view. Both Picasso and Braque also enjoyed using letters in their paintings along with motifs like musical instruments, glasses, and newspapers.

Picasso and Braque carried over these elements into Synthetic Cubism. This type of Cubism is called synthetic because it combines various elements of a painting into a coherent whole. Synthetic Cubism also underscored the importance of color and contrasting textures through collage.

Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) was a Spanish painter. He is one of the best-known artists of all time. Picasso began to study art at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid but disliked formal instruction and quit shortly afterward. Picasso published his first illustrations in 1900 in a Spanish newspaper. He continued working as an illustrator for Arte Joven in Madrid. In 1904, he relocated to Paris, which he had previously visited in 1901. At this time, Picasso created works in a style that later became known as his Blue Period and painted circus-themed images of the Rose Period.

In 1907, Picasso began creating Cubist artwork such as Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907). He worked with Georges Braque to develop Analytic Cubism when the two artists' works closely resembled each other. After this, the Spaniard pursued collage-like Synthetic Cubism.

Apart from Cubism, Picasso continued to display artistic diversity. For example, he painted his first wife, Olga Khokhlova, in a realistic neoclassical manner. At the same time, one of his best-known works, Guernica (1937), depicting the Spanish Civil War, displays a significant degree of abstraction.

Pablo Picasso, Portrait of Ambroise Vollard, 1910. Source: Wikiart (U.S. public domain).

Georges Braque

Georges Braque (1882-1963) was a French painter and sculptor. He is best known for his development of Cubism with Pablo Picasso. Braque's Maisons et arbre (Houses at l'Estaque) created in 1908 is the source of the term "Cubism." Braque studied art at École supérieure d'art et design Le Havre-Rouen in Normandy and at the Académie Humbert in Paris.

Initially, Braque created impressionistic paintings and then switched to the Fauvist style. Deriving from the term "Fauves" ("beasts"), Fauvist artists used bright colors, which were often applied crudely. Fauvism was scandalous at the time. Braque was also infuenced by Paul Cézanne. Soon, however, Braque began to develop Cubism with Picasso. The two artists worked closely on Analytic Cubism. After Cubism, Braque found a personal artistic style and even painted human figures.

Art History: American Cubism

Cubism arose in the United States for two main reasons. First, American art curators like Alfred Stieglitz held exhibitions featuring major European painters. Second, American artists like Max Weber and Andrew Dasburg were inspired by European paintings and created Cubist works themselves.

Max Weber

Max Weber (1881-1961) was a Russian-born American artist, sculptor, and poet, who helped popularize European avant-garde art, including Cubism, in the United States. In 1891, Max Weber relocated to New York City with his family. He received his education at the Pratt Institute. Weber worked as a school teacher before traveling to Paris to study painting until 1909. In Paris, Weber encountered Cubism and found inspiration in the traditional art of Africa.

Subsequently, Weber wrote theoretical essays on the avant-garde, such as "The Fourth Dimension from a Plastic Point of View." Well-known photographer and art curator Alfred Stieglitz published this paper in Camera Work. Weber also wrote Cubist Poems in 1914. Soon, Weber held art exhibitions at Stieglitz's 291 Gallery and the Newark Museum, effectively introducing modern art to the United States. Weber's best-known Cubist artwork from this period is Chinese Restaurant (1915) and The Cellist (1917). Both examples feature pungent colors and textures and depict objects as if the artist had reassembled them.

Max Weber, The Cellist, 1917. Source: Wikiart (public domain U.S.)

Andrew Dasburg

Andrew Dasburg (1887-1979) was another American painter and proponent of Cubism. Born in France, Dasburg's family relocated to the United States during his early childhood. He received his education at the Art Students League in New York City. Like Weber, Dasburg also visited Paris and was inspired by various avant-garde movements such as Futurism and the artists Henri Matisse and Paul Cézanne.

Andrew Dasburg, Improvisation, 1915–16. Source: Wikipedia Commons (public domain).

And like Weber, Alfred Stieglitz's New York City 291 gallery displayed Dasburg's paintings. At this time, Dasburg painted Cubist works and was inspired by the New Mexico landscape. In 1933, he permanently relocated to that state and continued to create art loosely linked to Cubism.

Famous Cubist Paintings

• Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907), Pablo Picasso

• Woman with a Mandolin (1910), Georges Braque

• Girl with a Mandolin (1910), Pablo Picasso

• The Accordionist (1911), Pablo Picasso

• Portrait of Pablo Picasso (1912), Juan Gris

• Man with a Guitar (1912), Georges Braque

• L'Homme au Balcon (1912), Albert Gleizes

• L’Oiseau bleu (1913), Jean Metzinger

• Portrait of Ramón Gómez de la Serna (1915), Diego Rivera

• Harlequin with Guitar (1917), Juan Gris

• The Cellist (1917), Max Weber

Aftermath

The heyday of Cubism was approximately between 1907 and the early 1920s. Cubism inspired other avant-garde directions in art, including Futurism, Dada, Suprematism, and Constructivism.

Umberto Boccioni, Dynanism of a Cyclist, 1913. Source: Wikipedia Commons: public domain.