ORIGINS OF CUBISM Cubism A movement in art

ORIGINS OF CUBISM • Cubism: A movement in art characterized by multi -faceted figures that show multiple sides of a subject on one plane • Late 19 th thru early 20 th century: European artists begin to discover African and Native American art…very intriguing. • Cezanne’s style of simplifying and breaking up the shape of an object formed a basis for the movement • Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque are credited with being the two main collaborators who truly developed and refined the movement during the early 20 th century, creating Cubism as we know it today.

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (October 25, 1881 - April 8, 1973) was one of the recognized masters of 20 th century Picasso was art. born in Malaga, Spain and was a leading founder of the Cubism Movement Picasso was primarily a painter he also worked with small ceramic and bronze sculptures, collage and even some poetry “Art is not the application of a canon of beauty but what the instinct and the brain can conceive beyond any canon. When we love a woman we don’t start measuring her limbs. ”

Pablo Picasso was baptized under the name: Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Maria de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruiz y Picasso. Some of Picasso’s movements in Art include: the Blue Period (1901– 1904), the Rose Period (1905– 1907), the African Influenced Period (1908– 1909), Analytic Cubism (1909– 1912), and Synthetic Cubism (1912– 1919). In 1897, Picasso, age 16, set off for the first time on his own to study Art in Madrid at the Academy of Arts. In 1990, Pablo moved to Paris and his career took off.

Pablo Picasso Synthetic Cubism was the Cubism: Synthetic second main branch of Cubism developed by Picasso, Braque, Juan Gris and others between 1912 and 1919. Analytic cubism was a form of pulling objects apart into planes, where as synthetic cubism is more of a pushing of several objects together into planes. It was seen as the first time that collage had been made as a fine art work.

Pablo Picasso Cubism 1907 -1914 Movement was influenced by African Sculpture Analytic Cubism “When we discovered Cubism, we did not have the aim of discovering Cubism. We only wanted to express what was in us. ” It is the first phase of cubism and is when artists reduce natural forms down to their basic shapes. Colors were subdued and paintings were found to be more monochromatic

GEORGES BRAQUES • French painter and sculptor born May 13, 1882 • Earliest style was impressionistic, but he eventually began to follow the Fauvist style by using bright colors and bold shapes • Braques meets Picasso in 1907 and the two begin to develop Cubism in 1908. His paintings from 1908 -1913 began to show his interest in capturing multiple perspectives and faceted forms. • Joins the French Army in 1914 during WWI and returns home severely wounded. His work after this develops a more personal style, characterized by brilliant colors and textured surfaces. Still places heavy emphasis upon the structure of objects. • Dies on August 31, 1963 in Paris. Considered to be the “cofounder” of Cubism, along with Picasso.

Violin and Candlestick, 1910 The Port of La Ciotat, 1907

Constanin Brancusi • renowned Romanian sculptor, born in Hobita, Gorj, near Targu Jiu in 1876, whose sculptures blend simplicity and sophistication that led the way for modernist sculptors. • Brancusi was a central figure of the modern movement and a pioneer of abstraction. His sculpture is noted for its visual elegance and sensitive use of materials, combining the directness of peasant carving with the sophistication of the Parisian avant-garde. • by 1908 he worked almost exclusively by carving. • From 1908 his sculpture became increasingly abstract, moving from the disembodied head of Sleeping Muse to the virtually featureless Beginning of the World and from the formal figure of the legendary bird Maiastra to numerous versions of the ethereal Bird in Space • His groundbreaking carvings introduced abstraction and primitivism into sculpture for the first time, and were as important as Picasso’s paintings to the development of modern art. • He died on March 16, 1957 at the age of 81 leaving 1200 photographs and 215 sculptures.

His artwork Sleeping Muse, 1909 -10 Self-Portrait, 1933 -34 Bird in Space, 1923

Effects of Cubism in the World of Art • Cubism lasted till 1920 s and had a profound effect on the art of the avante-garde. • It was the most radical of the developments that revolutionized art in the years leading up to World War I, changing the course of painting by introducing a new way of seeing and depicting the world. • Cubism also had a marked effect on sculpture, and even influenced architecture and the decorative arts. • Cubism also influenced sculptors, notably Alexander Archipenko and Ossip Zadkine, who opened up the forms of their figures, contrasting solids with voids. • Cubism had already made a powerful impact outside France, influencing movements in art including Futurism, Vorticism, Constructivism, Orphism, and Purism.