The Cubism Art Movement

Cubism is one of the most important art movements of the twentieth century. It is typically associated with Pablo Picasso a modernist Spanish painter. Cubism was co-invented by Picasso and Georges Braque a French painter, between the years of 1908 and 1912 in Paris, France. According to Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker, the post-impressionist artist Paul Cezanne inspired Picasso and Braque with his flattened planes that “sought to undermine illusion of depth (Harris and Zucker).” However, Cubism took this idea further by making “ordinary objects … look as if they have exploded and been reassembled somewhat arbitrarily in geometric bits and pieces that rest on the surface of the picture plane (Fiero, 359).” In other words, Cubism challenged …show more content…
This is apparent in Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon a founding piece in the development of the Cubism. Gloria K. Fiero mentions, “Les Demoiselles violated every shred of tradition, making even Manet’s Olympia look comfortably old-fashioned (Fiero, 358).” This is important because although disliked by most art critics this piece set a precedent for the future of the Cubism art movement. Cubism itself is subdivided in two phases Analytic Cubism and Synthetic Cubism. The first phase Analytic Cubism, focuses mainly on the study of structure and its reduction to geometric figures. On the other hand, the second phase Synthetic Cubism is differentiated by its integration of prefabricated materials like wallpaper and wine labels into paintings. The use of these materials is used to further challenge the status quo of fine art. It is important to note that both phases share the fundamental stylistic principles but the Synthetic phase takes cubism one step further. In essence, Cubism is a modernist art movement that challenges the traditional norms of fine art by directing its focus to the silhouette rather than to the esthetics in …show more content…
Fiero mentions, “this painting… shows how far toward abstraction Picasso had moved … Knit by a lively arrangement of flat shaded planes, monochromatic in color, figure and ground are almost indistinguishable (Fiero).” Here Fiero emphasizes Picasso’s continuous progression toward the Cubist’s affinity of abstraction. She also focuses on the Cubist’s tenet of undermining profundity in painting. Picasso is able to accomplish this through the use of different shades of black, brown, and white. The use of these monochromatic tones also make a clear statement; that is that form rather than color was the focus of cubism. Together these elements nearly blur the figures together in a way that only the essence of the theme of the painting is visible. This piece is a great representation of the Cubism art movement because it incorporates all the parameters of the