cubist manifesto

cubism received its name from the harsh critics, when it was published in its first art exhibition in Paris 1910. the originators of cubist art was Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque which was introduced by Guillaume Apollinaire and spokesman of cubist art. they were shortly joined by Juan Gris, jean Metzinger, Fernand Leger, Albert Gleizes and Sonia Dalaunay. in Picasso's terms, cubism was a vague desire on the part of those who participated in it to regain some kind of order. cubists were trying to move in the opposite direction to impressionism. that was the reason for cubists abandoning color, emotion, sensations and everything that had been introduced by impressionists. the very first piece of cubist art to display this was Picasso's Les Demoiselles D'avignon.

Braques first cubist work was influenced by this piece and is named "standing nude"

cubism originally used landscapes. these pieces of art started in 1908 when Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque moved out of Paris to the countryside. cubism was clearly not intended to be abstract art but to be a form of art that's well thought about and no accident, thinking outside the box, giving the viewer how 3D objects look flat as an open plan. cubism was influenced by Cezannes oil painted landscapes e.g la Montagne Sainte Victorie

was also influenced by Gauguin's landscapes such as haymaking

 

African tribe art also influenced the works of cubist art such as the Gabon masks. African sculptures with their bold shapes and lines had a great impact on cubist art. African art exhibitions was common in Paris and European cities in the 1920's. most of the artists i have mentioned in my blog was keen collectors of African Gabon masks. the horrific expressions and simplistic design of the masks inspired Picasso.

 

there are three techniques within cubist art, these is analytical cubism, synthetic cubism and cubist sculpture. each of these styles was used to represent their views on landscapes, still life and portraits.

analytical cubism was expressed using restricted colors and subject matter, making the art work seam shallow. Picasso viewed objects as a number of planes, seeing the object from all viewpoints which in doing so broke down the objects into its basic shapes. both artists together created a new perspective viewpoint.

 

synthetic cubism 1912 onwards experimented with collages, sticking pieces down e.g newspapers and match boxes etc on to canvas and combining them with drawing and paint. this was seen in Picasso's 'still life with chair caning'

 

it also used the technique invented by Georges Braque named Papier Colle which involved sticking down plain or patterned paper onto the painting to be painted as if they wasn't there. synthetic cubism developed  the new unexpected ideas through the media of collage and Papier Colle. they were able to express there  constructive elements through getting control of colors and texture, reducing real objects to lines and planes.

cubist sculpture bought the simplified shapes from cubist paintings together with the three dimensional modeling sculpture. the first cubist sculpture was designed by Picasso in 1909 'head of a woman'

as i mentioned previously in the blog, Picasso was influenced by African masks. cubist sculptures was recognized as analytical cubism in its stripping away of the illusionist detail revealing its sophisticated form contained in each individual object, it been human or still life. Picasso also used synthetic cubism in hes sculptures e.g the art style 'found objects'

pablo picasso

cubism and modern art was not scientific or intellectual, they were visual and came from the eye of one of the greatest geniuses in art history, Pablo Picasso. hes early works were strikingly realistic drawings of ancient sculptures. he was influenced by Manet, Gustave Courbet and Toulouse Lautrec for there sketchy style of art, whilst visiting France. before he got involved in cubism he got involved in very different art movements such as: realism, Caricature, the blue period - which dates 1901 - 1904, where they use a blue pallet and focus on outcasts, beggars and prostitutes. the rose period - began around 1904, when Picasso's pallet brightened, the paintings dominated by pinks, beiges, light blues and roses. hes focus in the rose period were circus people, harlequins and clowns. all of these objects seem to be mute and strangely inactive. he then started art work with large male and female figures seen frontally or in distinct profile, a lot like early Greek art. another great influence was Henri Matisse for hes weird and shocking style of art. he then looked at Iberian sculptures (African art) and Gauguin sculptures, he then took upon himself to simplify the forms of these sculptures and turn it into a weird portrait of Gertrude stein. Gertrude complained about the portrait saying "i don't look at all like that", Picasso replied "you will, Gertrude, you will". this unique portrait was the birth of cubism.

 Picasso carried on with these cubist paintings, but was afraid to show them, he only viewed hes art to a small circle of friends until 1916, long after the early cubist paintings, cubism was there to view three dimensional forms into flat areas of pattern and color overlapping and intertwining so that the shapes are seen from the front and back at the same time. the style was created by Picasso and hes great friend Georges Braque. at the time it was difficult to tell the two artists apart. Picasso and Braque was so close, Picasso called Braque hes wife, because the friendship was strong, and described it as a relationship as two mountaineers roped together. every progressive artist took up on cubism, and this art movement was the dominant art movement of at least the first half of the 20th century. he modified the art movement by adding pieces stuck on to the canvas, contrasting with the paint, this was called synthetic cubism. a good example of synthetic cubism was the guitar

the most accomplished pictures of the fully developed synthetic cubist style are two complex and highly colorful works representing musicians. at the outbreak of the Spanish civil war, the director of the Prado, in 1937, Picasso was asked by the republican government to paint a mural for the Spanish pavilion in Paris.

 

introduction

this blogger is aiming to show the historical developments in the art movement of cubism/futurism. i will do this by researching some artists that was evolved in the art movement, what they did to make it such a ground breaking movement for that particular point in time. the main art movement in this blogger is cubism, and i will look into the relationships with two other art movements such as futurism and surrealism. i will be using many different sources of information, such as books from the library, reliable posts from the internet and information from contextual studies. i will include images from the internet to give the viewer a better understanding about what i am writing about. included in the research of the artists, i will include the materials, processes and ideas that was running through there minds at that particular point in time. i will include how each artist influenced each other such as Picasso influencing surrealist art. i may include some movies posted on the internet to explain my thoughts further and give a better understanding.