CUBISM (c. 1907 - 1914)

by Jo Colley 07:56 0 comments

Cubism was the period pioneered by artists such as Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque between 1907 and 1914 as inspired by the earlier work of Paul Cezanne. Based in France and Northern Spain, L'Estaque and Horta de Ebro, respectively these artists were responsible for the development of abstracted shapes and primitivism with a focus on multiple points of perspective and shape.

Paul Cezanne (1839-1906) was a French Post-Impressionist painter dedicated to a new theory of art as the world moved into the 20th Century. As a major inspiration for the cubist movement, one of his many ideas was to "treat nature in terms of the cylinder, the sphere, the cone. Everything in proper perspective so each side or plane of an object is directed towards a central point." This meant that Cezanne was attempting to further the dimensional elements of painting and break beyond the planar perspective, this would be something that artists such as Pablo Picasso would aim to evolve in the years following Cezanne's death, gearing himself towards the idea of pure abstraction.

There were many established style of cubism developed over the seven year period; Facet cubism portrayed the viewed image as broken up facets across the image, all of which representing a differently angled viewpoint on the object, this causes changes in shape and faceted use of colour. Images that conform to this theme of Facet Cubism include Georges Braque's (1882-1963) paintings of L'Estaque in 1908, looking at factories, houses and viaducts at various angles in order to achieve an image not seen naturally by the naked eye. The same concept can be applied to Pablo Picasso's use of Facet Cubism in his paintings of Horta de Ebro in 1909, using sharp, geometric angles to depict the ever changing viewpoint.

"Factory at Horta de Ebro" painted by Pablo Picasso in 1909.

The above image is an important example of how a changing viewpoint can effect the dimensions of an object, the multiplicity of such has furthered the sense of abstraction that Picasso is trying to achieve with cubism. As with many cubist paintings by Picasso and Braque, a very strict colour scheme is used, often consisting of natural and harmonious colours. In this case, orange, grey and green are used in contrast to fragment and facet each dissected image of what Picasso visualises at Horta de Ebro.

Analytic Cubism differs from Facet Cubism as it first dissects the image, before rearranging the parts. rejecting classical techniques of painting in regards to light and perspective. These paintings would change reality rather than skew it, creating an almost new object as they were not bound or confined by colour, tone, texture or shape to portray a particular image. The idea of the motif is important as these images are a product of a redesigned composition of sides and planes. As not seen in facet cubism, this concept allows for further abstraction as seen via intersecting shapes, impossible angles and incoherent composure of line. However, the colours within Analytic Cubism tend to depict neutral and harmonious tones.

"Still Life with Violin & Pitcher" painted by Georges Braque, 1910.

Analytical Cubism can be found in Georges Braque's painting "Still Life with Violin & Pitcher" this is most evident in the way the artist has used colour - or a lack of it. The neutral tones, consisting of browns and greys allows for the composition to garner the most attention for it's sharp and rearranged nature. This is where it differs so much from facet cubism; while faceted, the image is still mostly coherent, while in analytical cubism, the image is so disoriented and broken down to it's basic form of simply lines, geometry and shape that the underlying sense of perspective is almost lost in Braque's signature stylization.

Hermetic Cubism was ultimately created as an opposing reaction to the style of analytical cubism. This phase of the art movement was founded on the idea of planes acting as if panes of glass. In other words, sections of the composition will be placed in parallel with the edges of the format so as to conform with the basic shape of the object while also synthesising the reality of the object with the flat nature of the canvas on which it lays, as if reassembled from the composure of analytical cubism. 

"Still Life with a Guitar" painted by Georges Braque, 1914.

"Still Life with a Guitar" is a painting which Georges Braque uses to experiment with the ideas of Hermetic Cubism. It focuses more on the plane of perspective and connected compositions than of singular elements. The planes of the image itself uses block colours to separate each "pane of glass", serving to disconnect the aspects of the object in clusters, disassembling the image in parts. This also saw the inclusion of typography and the use of a collage style previously unused, which became popular thanks to the Cubist movement. This would only be further developed in the later years of the period. 

Synthetic Cubism, the final phase of Cubist style, was perhaps the most significant development to the seven years, created in the later period between 1912 and 1919. With the collaboration of further artists such as Juan Gris (1887-1927) and others. This developed cubism beyond the simple abstracted paintings and towards mixed media; a combinations of more planar use of colours, the collecting and grouping of objects rather than dispersal and the utilization of decorative patterns initiated by hermetic cubism. The use of text and newspaper cuttings at this point became common. Much of which had an underlying critique of the ongoing war in the Balkans and the First World War later that decade. 

"Bottle of Suze, November 1912" by Georges Braque, made with Newspaper, and Wallpaper.

Georges Braque's use of collage techniques in " Bottle of Suze, November 1912" was an innovative beginning to a style that is ongoing in modern art and crafts. Using clippings from newspapers he creates a contemporary work of art that related to the Balkans War, while still maintaining the new decorative developments of the cubist style. Once again, tones are limited to being neutral and harmonious, so while this is a fresh style. It is still reminiscent of the original ideas of the pioneers of Cubism in 1907. 

Juan Gris (1887-1927) was an artist that pushed the ideas of Cubism to the edge of their own meaning. He revitalized the techniques later on with bold colours, almost with a sense of luminosity. With a much more refined and personal technique, he was more abstract in his use of collage with more ornate decoration.

"Still Life Before an Open Window" by Juan Gris, 1915 (Synthetic Cubism).

In conclusion, the core elements of cubism have paved a foundation for future modern artists to not only be influenced by, but to adopt the style in a variety of formats. An example of such an artist is David Hockney, his 'joiners' collection of photograph are a reminder of the cubist use of multiple planes and perspectives in one image. Furthermore, many artists have also derived parts of their work from artists from this movement and name Pablo Picasso a significant influence.