Art 102 Fall 2013
Cubism, Surrealism Lecture
Cubism
• Cubism is not an expressive movement. It is more
about the architecture of objects, how that
architecture can be de- and reconstructed.
• It is not abstract—there is always an object in the
artwork, even if it is hard to see
• Uses form instead of color to explore the external
character of objects
• Begins in 1907 in Paris
• Created by painters Picasso and Braque
Painting exhibited in 1907
Salon d’Automne.
Matisse says it looks like it is made
up of “little cubes”
Braque removes it from the
exhibition
Braque Maisons a L'Estaque 1907
Paris Montmartre 1925
Picasso Les Demoiselles d'Avignon 1907
Very important painting in the development of
Cubism:
Fragmentation of the figure
Use of multiple perspectives simultaneously
Takes up tradition of composition of female nudes
and makes it shocking
Masklike heads are evidence of Picasso’s interest
in African art
Picasso Les Demoiselles d'Avignon 1907
Matisse Bonheur de Vivre 1906
Matisse Luxe Calme et Volupté 1904
Ingres Turkish Bath 1862
Fundamental discovery of Cubsim:
The facet
The facet is equivalent to the idea
Of the “cube”—is a small area
bordered by lines
3 principles of the facet:
1. Painted at slight angle to surface
of picture plane.
2. Overlapping and shading of facets
means figure could not be sculpted
3. Edges dissolve, so contents of
facets blend into one another
Braque Maisons a L'Estaque 1907
Cubists want to be able to show back and front
and insides and outside of objects
simultaneously.
Undoing conventions of Renaissance
perspective.
These paintings are never abstract—always
represent some real object (in this case a
guitar player).
Stenciled letters and numbers show the 2Dimensionality of the image, and show the
struggle between form and picture plane
This is an example of “hermetic cubism”: a
period in cubism when it becomes extremely
difficult to recognize the object
Braque Le Portugais 1912
Raphael Annunciation 1503
2 phases of Cubism:
1. Analytic
2. Synthetic
Analytic is earlier phase.
Motifs portrayed from different perspectives
simultaneously.
Fragmentation of whole into smaller parts.
Tendency towards monochrome
Picasso Ma Jolie 1911
Pablo Picasso Still Life with Chair Caning 1912
Synthetic cubism involves the use of collage:
Sticking objects onto surface of canvas
Instead of painting them
Synthetic cubism happens after
hermetic cubism—Picasso and Braque
want to reintroduce objects from real
world into painting
Pablo Picasso Still Life with Chair Caning 1912
This is an example of “Orphic
Cubism”
Orphic cubists wanted painting
To be a sensation of pure colors
Becomes more abstract than
Other phases of cubism
Robert Delaunay Simultaneous Windows on the City 1912
Surrealism
• Another movement that starts in France, though many
artists are not French
• Led by André Breton, who wrote manifestos for the
movement in the 1920’s
• Surrealism uses disorientation and the unconscious as
a way to liberate the imagination and get away from
conventional approaches to representation
• Deploys automatism, or the relinquishment of
conscious control by the artist of his own production
• Breton wants to resolve two states of dream and reality
into a new state of surreality. Surreality comes from
hypnotic or trance states.
Breton sees in Ernst’s art a “spark” that
brings together distant realities.
The surrealist image brings objects and
phenomena into contact that would
normally seem unrelated.
Pleasure of surrealism is described in
terms of artworks “as beautiful as the
chance encounter on a dissecting table
of a sewing machine and an umbrella”
Max Ernst La Cle des Chants 1933
Max Ernst Une Semaine de Bonté 1933
This is an example of an
automatic drawing, where the
artist would simply allow his
pen to move over the paper
without conscious control.
This is an example of automatism.
Andre Masson Automatic Drawing 1924
Miro Bouquet of Flowers Smile of My Blond 1924
Miro is one of the first painters
associated with the Surrealist movement
We see a loosening of line and color
relative to Cubism
This is an representation of Miro’s
beloved.
Surrealist paintings are not abstract—
they represent objects, but the objects
are meant to transmit the internal rather
than the external world.
Miro Bouquet of Flowers Smile of My Blond 1924
DeChirico is working prior to the
Surrealist movement, and never aligns
himself with them, but his imagery
strongly influences them.
Hallucinatory, dreamlike imagery—objects
that seem unrelated
High degree of psychological symbolism.
Clock is about anguish of departure.
Train may be memory of engineer father.
Paintings are devoid of human beings
de Chirico Conquest of the Philosopher 1912
May be about fall or end of classical
beauty in Italy.
Generally, very enigmatic and strange
imagery.
Obscure meaning because paintings
are about private or unconscious
associations of the painter
They are intentionally hermetic
de Chirico Song of Love 1914
Influenced by the dreamlike canvases
of DeChiricio.
This is not abstract—objects cast
shadows and exist in some kind of real
space, but this is not an ordinary of
recognizable space we would
encounter in the real world.
Paintings intended to be disorienting
Tanguy Infinite Divisibility 1942
Magritte Personal Values 1952
Magritte is a Belgian Surrealist, and kept
His distance from Breton.
Many of his paintings question the notion
Of reality and representation.
His paintings are naturalistic but of subjects
That could not exist in the natural world
He often plays with scale
Very cerebral painter, dealing not only
With questions of visual representation but also with language.
Magritte Personal Values 1952
Magritte Ceci n'est pas une Pipe 1928-9
Dali joins the Surrealists in 1928
Paintings all about the nature of reality,
The unconsious, dreams, and symbolism
Uses idea that hidden meanings are embedded
In the surface content of images
Tries to represent the workings of the
Unconscious, to make the unconscious conscious
Dreaming is seen as the path to liberty
Dali The Dismal Sport 1929
This painting is about an oedipal castration
fantasy, including phallic imagery
Dali says he finds significance in irrationality,
brings delirium into reality
Surrealist objects are found objects that are
transformed into something else
They are, according to Breton, supposed to
exhibit a “convulsive” beauty.
Dali Giraffe in Flames 1935
Dali The Persistence of Memory 1931