Cubism

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  • Cubism
    • Intro Points
      • 1908-1914, shift to abstract and conceptual
        • Showed what an artist knew about an object as well as saw
      • Coined by Louis Vauxcelle- like 'little cubes'
        • Term more widely used after 'On Cubism' by Gleizes and Metzinger
      • Rejection of techniques of optical realism and perspective illusionism
      • Influence of 'primitive' forms - Tracadero Museum and Louvre collections of African/ Iberian art
      • Analytical Cubism- many views of object presented simultaneously
        • Synthetic Cubism- objects simply denoted as signs/emblems, oval frames, ready made
          • Orphism- more sensuous/ colourful, showing modernity
    • Picasso 'Les Demoiselles de Avignon' (1907)
      • Description
        • Five nude women stare confrontationally at viewer
        • Sensual, but not passive, cannot be voyeuristic
        • Mask-like faces, animalistic
        • Traditional odalisque poses, but one on right in explicit pose
        • Viewpoints shift- unclear if viewing from above or behind, rejected perspective
        • Flat forms, lack of tonal gradation segmented ugly parts
          • Angular- against tradition of curvy nude
        • Still life in foreground - phallic melon
      • Primitive Sculpture
        • Middle two- influence of Iberian (ancient Spanish) sculpture
          • Simplistic, rounded faces, lozenge shaped eyes, scrolled ear, triangle nose
          • Picasso's nationalism- toured Spain
          • Exhibition at Louvre at time, Picasso acquired a stolen sculpture
        • Primitive African sculpture in right figures
          • Abstracted proportions, traditional squat
          • Trocadero collection - 'it was disgusting..masks were magical things'
            • Collected African art
            • African folklore said masks protected from STDs
          • Gauguin- Introspective in Paris 1906
          • European supremacy- saw it as lesser art
          • Denied influence: 'African art, never heard of it'
      • Other Influences
        • Misogyny from troubled relationship with Fernande Oliver
        • Fear of STDs- may have caught syphilis in Barcelona in 1902
          • Sketches had man holding skull- memento mori
        • Ingres' 'Turkish Baths' in Paris 1905, exotic woman from behind
          • Squat may also reference Cezanne's bathers
          • Still a Classicism- nude gone full circle from goddess to ugly
        • Leo Stein: 'philosophical brothel'- stripped of mean
        • Transitory- after red and blue periods
    • Picasso 'Man with a Pipe' (1911-12)
      • Analytical Cubism
        • Developed by Picasso and Braque 1912
        • Shape and form to represent whole object
        • Views presented simultaneously in kaleidoscope of line and colour
        • 'Analytic' came from Kahnweiler's 'Rise of Cubism' 1920
          • Taking successive views around an object and juxtaposing them
          • Also coined by Carl Eisenstein in 'Notes on Cubism'
        • Use of lettering pre-empting Synthetic Cubism
          • 'Forms which could not be distorted, because being themselves flat, they are not in space'
      • Description
        • Strong, rectilinear lines and forms, pyramidal composition
        • Oval canvas, first use by Braque- rejects pictoral illusionism by being eye shaped
        • Muted palette of greys, ochres and browns
        • Use of lettering: EST - restaurant, AL - journal
        • Has pipe, moustache, holding paper, circular forms representing bottom of sleeves
        • Partly lit, gradation of tones
          • Pronounced, firm brushstrokes
      • Context
        • Einstein's theory of relativity in 1905- time and space elastic and change in relation to observer
        • Bergson's 'Matter and Memory' 1896 - consciousness accumulation of experience
        • 1870-1910 massive technological change
          • Artists looking for new ways to reflect modernity
        • 'The world doesn't make sense so why should I paint pictures that do'
          • Rejected that art should copy nature
          • Rejection of perspective, modelling, foreshortening etc - emphasised 2D of canvas
    • Braque 'Fruit Bowl and Glass' (1912)
      • Synthetic Cubism
        • More diverse and rich in manifestations
        • Depicted in round
        • Less fragmented, more symbolic, colourful and textural
          • Simpler forms- move away from academic
          • Focus on decorative
          • Represented as symbols, signs, emblems
      • Materials and Techniques
        • Main subject matter sketched in charcoal, subordinate to surroundings
        • Fake wood texture made by grained comb- applied sand and sawdust for texture
          • Technique from being a painter decorator
        • Faux bois applied and gouache on white paper board
          • Collage technique connotes low culture
        • Lettering in charcoal- printed version of reality
          • Letters taken from newspapers in later pieces
        • Physical projection from wood like relief sculpture
        • Trompe l'oeil - realistic imagery to create optical illusion of 3D
      • Ideas on Art
        • Experimented with lithography, engraving and sculpture
        • Trained in trompe l'oeil technique to create wood and marble textures
        • Large charcoal drawing overlaps wallpaper
          • Unsure whats foreground or background
            • Braque making a pun about objects being in 2D and 3D at same time
        • Abstraction -essence of object rather than direct representation
        • Papier colle technique created 1912
          • Foreshadows modern art e.g. Pop Art
    • Picasso 'Glass of Absinthe' (1914)
      • Description
        • Absinthe spoon on top-iced water dripped over sugar cube
        • Painted bronze - untraditional
        • Uneven, tilts, voids and spaces, deformed
        • Rings show how full glass is
      • Context
        • Associated with modern bohemian cafe life
          • Absinthe popular drink in some circles, also very addictive
        • Could be seen as the effects of absinthe- looks like a face
          • Formalistic exercise representing intoxication
        • Cubism challenging sculpture being representational
          • 'You should have some idea what you are going to do but it should be a vague one'
        • Ready-made- like a collage
        • Painting shows return to medieval style and influence of Gauguin
        • Princet's theories of geometry
          • Poincake's theories of 4D geometry and experiences of sense
            • Bergson's argument that reality is a flux of sensation

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