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EARLY 20TH CENTURY ABSTRACTION
Cubism
"The art of painting original arrangements composed of elements taken from conceived rather than
perceived reality." -- Guillaume Apollinaire "The Beginnings of Cubism" 1912
Cubism was an early 20th-century school of painting and sculpture in which the subject matter is
portrayed by geometric forms without realistic detail, stressing abstract form at the expense of other
pictorial elements largely by use of intersecting often transparent cubes and cones.
Cubism was a highly influential visual arts style that was created principally by the painters
Pablo Picasso and
Georges Braque in Paris between 1907 and 1914.
The Cubist style emphasized the flat, two-dimensional surface of the picture plane, rejecting the
traditional techniques of perspective, foreshortening, modeling, and chiaroscuro and refuting
time-honoured theories of art as the imitation of nature. Cubist painters were not bound to copying
form, texture, colour, and space; instead, they presented a new reality in paintings that depicted
radically fragmented objects, whose several sides were seen simultaneously.
After Cubism, the world never looked the same again: it was one of the most influential and
revolutionary movements in art. The Spaniard Pablo Picasso
and the Frenchman Georges Braque splintered the
visual world not wantonly, but sensuously and beautifully with their new art. They provided what we
could almost call a God's-eye view of reality: every aspect of the whole subject, seen simultaneously
in a single dimension.
The Cubist movement in painting appeared around 1907 and became a major influence on Western art. The
artists chose to break down the subjects they were painting into a number of facets, showing several
different aspects of one object simultaneously. The work up to 1912 is known as Analytical Cubism,
concentrating on geometrical forms using subdued colors. The second phase, known as Synthetic Cubism,
used more decorative shapes, stencilling, collage, and brighter colors. It was then that artists such
as Picasso and Braque started to use pieces of cut-up newspaper in their paintings.
Juan Gris was the Third Musketeer of Cubism, and actually pushed Cubism further to its logical
conclusion until his ultimely death in 1927 at the age of 39. His pictures are a joy to look at!
"I hope this resource has helped you understand more about the Modern Art of the 20th Century which has inspired me!"
- Taylor Anne Smith
More 20th Century Modern Art ......
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