Cubism

Cubism, the next influence of 20^thcentury art after Fauvism, was the turning point in modern art as it was the first abstract style on the timeline of art movements. The father of this revolutionary movement is French postimpressionist painter, Paul Cezanne, who believed that a painter should “treat nature in terms of the cylinder, the sphere and the cone.” Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque followed Cezanne and evolved his vision into a historical art movement that underwent various phases and experimentations.

This movement occurred in response to the world undergoing change at an unprecedented speed regarding technological advances. This radical new movement confused traditionalist painters as it produced something extensively different.

The cubists’ ideals were not to translate objects naturally but to emotionally manipulate the subject matter with the goal to change compiled elements for aesthetic reasons rather than reality. The cubists challenged the traditional forms of representation, such a perspective, which was a geometrical formula that enabled artists to draw three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional surface. They perceived the limitation of perspective as an obstacle preventing art from progressing. Their opinions were restricted by the fact that depicted perspective could only work from one viewpoint seeing as the image is drawn from a fixed position; thus freezing the result.

Cubists wanted to create art that reached beyond the rigid geometry of perspective. They were determined to introduce the idea of “relativity” which is how an artist perceives and selects elements from the subject, combining their observations and memories into one concentrated image. For example, Cezanne’s goal was never really to create an illusion of depth in his paintings. He abandoned the tradition of perspective drawing as he felt that the illusionism of perspective denied that fact that a painting is a flat two-dimensional surface. Thus, Cezanne flattened the space in his paintings to place emphasis in their flat surface. He did this to stress the difference between paintings and reality.  It was this flat abstract approach that appealed to the cubists.

To be able successfully convey their idea of “relativity” cubists went so far as to examine the way we as humans see. When one looks at an object one’s eyes scan that object, during which one stops to register certain details before moving onto the next point of interest. Whilst looking at a subject, one can change one’s point of view and look at it from any manageable angle. Hence, one’s sight of an object is the sum of various views. Cubist painting, which is paradoxically abstract in form, was actually an attempt at a more realistic way of seeing. It demonstrated a new way of handling space and expressing human emotions as the spatial illusion of perspective gave way to an ambiguous shifting of two-dimensional planes.

Typical cubist paintings portrayed real people, places or objects; not only from a fixed viewpoint but also from various angles at once.  Figures were abstracted into geometric planes. The classical theories of the human form were broken as some figures were actually seen from two angles simultaneously.  

Cubists also sought to revitalize traditional art by seeking inspiration from cultural art, especially that of an African nature. Cubists weren’t fascinated with these art pieces due to their religious or social symbolism; they merely valued their inspirational worth due to their expressive style. These pieces were observed as subversive elements that were used to attack and subsequently refresh the exhausted tradition of Western art.

Pablo Picasso, a Spanish painter, applied elements of ancient Iberian and African tribal art to the human figure. The boldly chiseled geometric planes of African masks, fabrics and sculptures were found to be an exciting revelation to Picasso and his friends. One of these friends, and a close associate, was Georges Braque. It was their innovation to developed Cubism into an art movement that replaced the rendering of appearances with the endless possibilities of inventing form. Their work was dubbed Analytical Cubism.

This initial stage of Cubism stretched from 1910 to 1912. It was during this period that the planes of the involved artistic subject matter were analyzed from different points of view. These perceptions were then used to construct a painting composed of rhythmic geometric planes. The real subject matter of this stage was shape, colors, textures and values used in spatial relationships. Analytical Cubsm’s compelling fascination grows from the unresolved tension of the sensual and intellectual appeal of the pictorial structure in conflict with the challenge of interpreting the subject matter.

Pablo Picasso, Man With Violin, 1911-12.

In the analytical cubism phase, Picasso and Braque

Studies the planes of a subject from different vantage points,

fractured them and pulled them forward toward the canvas

surface. The planes shimmer vibrantly in ambiguous positive

and negative relationships one to another

Picasso and Braque introduced paper collage elements into their work in 1912. Collage allowed free composition independent of the subject matter and declared the reality of the painting as a two-dimensional object. The texture of the collage signified objects.

In 1913 Synthetic Cubism developed form Analytical Cubism. Drawing form past observations, the cubists invented forms that were signs rather than representations of the subject matter. The essence of an object and its basic characteristics; rather than its outward appearance was portrayed.  

Juan Gris, a major painter in in the development of Synthetic Cubism combined compositions from nature with an independent structural design of the picture space. He firstly planned a rigorous architectural structure using golden section proportions and modular composition grids. Then the subject matter was laid on this design scheme. Gris’s unique approach had a major influence on the development of geometric art and design. His paintings were a kind of halfway house between an art based on perception and one that’s realized by the relationships between geometric shapes.

Jaun Gris, Fruit Bowl, 1916

Cubist planes move forward and backward in

shallow space, while the vertical and diagonal

geometry of a grid imposes order

Another artist that joined in on the movement was Fernand Léger who moved cubism away from the initial impulse of its founders. From approximately 1910 Léger was inspired by Cezaane’s famous dictum about the cylinder, sphere and cone. He took this theory very seriously. Motifs such as nudes in a forest were transformed into fields of colorful stovepipe sections littering the picture plane.  His work was potentially heading towards evolving onto an art form of pure color and shape relationships but his time at war altered his visual perception. This lead to him turning towards a style that was more recognizable, accessible and populist.

His almost pictographic simplifications of the human figure and objects were a major inspiration for modernist pictorial graphics and inspired the thrust to revive French poster art. Léger’s flat planes of colour, urban motif, and the hard-edged precision of his machine forms helped define the modern design sensibility after WW1.

Fernand Léger, The City, 1919.

The monumental composition of pure, flat planes signifying

the geometry, color and energy of the modern city led to its

creator to say that “it was advertising that first

drew the consequences” from it.

By developing a new approach to visual composition, cubism changed the course of painting and graphic design. This visual invention became a spark for experiments that pushed art and design toward geometric abstraction and new attributes toward pictorial space.