Cubism and Abstract

4th April 2014

Cubism was a revolution in the first half of the 20th Century that occurred in the practice of art. another word for Cubism is called Non-Objective Art.

Early Cubism

It was an important movement at the beginning of the 20th Century that was originated by two famous artists of that time that are Pablo Picasso (1881-1971) and the Frenchman George Braque (1882-1963)... Who are they..... ?? 

Pablo Picasso (1881-1971)

He was born in Malaga,Spain 1881, but he lived most of his life in France. he started to learn drawing from his father, Don Hosei, that was an art teacher. he wanted Pablo to discover the world of art to improve Picasso's natural talent. in 1900 Picasso left Spain and moved to the world of art (Paris), during this time Pablo painted several works that are important works such as; The Old Guitarist (1903) from his Blue Period (1901-04) and the Softer Description of Circus People from his Rose Period (1905-07). Cubism was being developed. A part from painting Picasso was a sculpture too. These sculptures was mainly made from founded objects that most of them were rubbish,that were imaginatively transformed. Most of Pablo Picasso's work and style were based on the famous works by Velasquez, Rembrandt and Manet.

George Braque (1882-1963)

This artist was a colleague of Pablo Picasso, together the founded the world of Cubism and Abstract. Braque was obsessed by the two formal elements that he used in his painting that are Shape and Form, by ignoring traditional perspective. Even in his painting he used a technique called Passague'. This technique is done by using a simple palette, mainly with natural colors, ignoring the positive an negative spaces and create a movement with shadows that moves like this.. Light ans Dark... and keeps repeating the same way. a good example of this technique is shown in the painting that he did called The Chateau De La Roche-Guyan (1909). Together Braque and Picasso developed the Cubist movement not only painting shape and form but also painting figures in an Abstract way and eve creating a collage. Basiclly these two artist started the era of Modern Art.

They were the main artist of Cubism and Abstract, that together started to breakdown objects into their Geometrical Shapes. In their work the main subjects were taken from the Cafe in Paris that consists Still Life and Portraits.
The Cubist were also inspired by the recently discoveries of the African Negro Masks, that were used by African people. A painting that Picasso produce with this inspiration of the African Masks is called; Les Desmoiselles D' Avignan (1907). In this painting Faces are painted into a simple, masks- like forms.

Les Desmoiselles D' Avignan , 1907

Late Cubism

Between 1909 an 1913 Pablo Picasso and George Braque were still working together. Eventually their paintings started to develop in their techniques by producing abstract paintings. at that time these were done by using color and line. Abstract started to be developed while artists began to add real words by cutting and adding pieces of newspaper on their canvas to create an abstract work ( collage). Even they were lating actual textures such as; wood, metal, plastic and even fabrics. Brighter colors were used on their canvas, that was known as synthetic cubism. At that time important artists were being influenced from Pablo Picasso and George Braque's work.

Artists that were influenced in that time......

Robert Delauny ( 1885-1941)

Juan Gris (1887-1927)

Fernand Leger (1881-1955)

 Cubism and Abstract Before World War 2

In 1910, there was a great emphasis on color and form rather then a subject. Many different artists from many different countries that moved towards Cubism and Abstract Art. A famous artist from Russia Vassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) introduced Abstract trough Expressionism. This artist was a member from an independent group  that gave German Expressionist further that was called Der Bloue Reiter ( The Blue Rider ), that was formed in Munich in 1911.

Der Bloue Reiter ( The Blue Rider ) Group Munich 1911

Piet Mandrian (1872-1944) was another artist from Holland that developed through Cubism and abstracting forms. A painting that this artist produced is called; Combination With Red, Yellow and Blue.

Combination With Red, Yellow and Blue, Pier 1921

In this painting Mondrian used his artistic vocabulary to combine horizontal and vertical lines and a palette of, Black, White, Grey and the use of the Primary Colors.



Reference.....
- Ian Crofton 1990, The Guinness Encyclopedia, Gunness Publishing Ltd,1990, The Visual Arts, Cubism and Abstraction

- Alastair Sooke, Modern Masters - Pablo Picasso. [video online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBrY1vpwPhU [Accessed on Dec 7, 2013]

- The Forger's Masterclass, Ep 06 George Braque, [ video online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rejhieJL4CQ [ Accessed on April 22, 2012]