CUBISM
THE FIRST FORM OF ABSTRACT ART
PICASSO AND BRAQUE WITH INFLUENCES FROM CÉZANNE
INFLUENCES ON CUBISM
• Paul Cézanne changed
styles and habits
• Variations of tone and color
• Geometric shapes: cylinder,
sphere, cone
• Varied approach while
revisiting subjects
• “My one and only master…
Cézanne was like the father
of us all”. -Pablo Picasso
Montagne Sainte-Victoire - Paul Cezanne 1904–06
INFLUENCES ON CUBISM
• African art has influenced
many art movements
• Motivated artists to create
their own interpretations of
what they saw
• Themes adapted from
African art
• Distorted African masks
influenced the earliest cubist
paintings.
Fang Mask 56 – the
Fang tribe
Les Demoiselles
d’Avignon – Pablo
Picasso – 1907
INTRODUCTION TO CUBISM
Cubism is a form of
abstract art which
emphasizes the twodimensionality of the
canvas.
The Guitar
Player – Pablo
Picasso –
1910
Characteristics:
• Objects are shown from
multiple perspectives at
once.
• Everything is portrayed
with geometric shapes.
• It portrayed a “new
way of seeing,” which
infused observations
and memories into
paintings.
CUBISM-Phases
Phases of
Cubism
‘’Early Cubism",
(from 1906 to
1908) when the
movement was
initially
developed in
the studios of
Picasso and
Braque.
"High Cubism",
(from 1909 to
1914) during
which time Juan
Gris emerged
as an important
exponent.
"Late Cubism"
(from 1914 to
1921) as the
last phase of
Cubism as a
radical avantgarde
movement.
EARLY CUBISM
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon –
Pablo Picasso – 1907
Viaduct at L'Estaque – Georges
Braque – 1908
ANALYTICAL CUBISM
(Or, that period of cubism where it’s really hard to tell
what anything is, and who the artist is.)
Characteristics of Analytical Cubism:
•Objects are “analyzed” from many perspectives.
•Artist incorporates many (if not all) of these
perspectives in the painting itself.
•The painting, instead of directly showing the
subject, “evokes a sense of the subject.”
Fruit Dish, Ace
of Clubs –
Georges Braque
- 1913
Still Life With a
Violin –
Georges Braque
– 1912
The Guitar
Player – Pablo
Picasso – 1910
Portrait of DanielHenry Kahnweiler –
Pablo Picasso – 1910
GUESS THE ARTIST!
GUESS THE ARTIST!
Ma Jolie – Pablo Picasso – 1911
Violin and Jug – Georges Braque – 1910
SYNTHETIC CUBISM
(or, yay! I can actually tell what I’m looking at in this
painting!)
Characteristics of Synthetic Cubism:
•Objects are still drawn from multiple perspectives,
BUT…
•They are more discernable,
•And they are more colorful.
Black Fish – Georges Braque – 1942
Le Jour – Georges Braque – 1929
Three Musicians – Pablo Picasso – 1921
Still Life With Mandolin and Guitar – Pablo Picasso - 1924
OTHER NOTABLES
• Juan Gris is considered the “Third Musketeer” of
Cubism
• Fernand Léger painted World War II inspired
Cubist paintings, which created social
commentary of the time he lived in
• Robert Delaunay spun off of Cubism with
“orphism,” which is just cubism with more circles
• Marcel Duchamp didn’t always paint, but when
he did, he painted cubism.
Guitar and Clarinet – Juan Gris – 1920
Soldiers Playing Cards – Fernand Léger – 1917
Homage to Bleriot – Robert Delaunay – 1914
Nude Descending a
Staircase – Marcel
Duchamp – 1912
PICASSO
CUBISM-period
Early Years
PICASSO
CUBISM-early years
Pablo Picasso was born on October 25, 1881 in Malaga,
Spain.
Picasso’s father José Ruiz y Blasco was also a painter
himself. He taught him the basics of formal and academic
art training.
Picasso attended many art schools during his childhood.
He never finished his studies at the Academy of Arts in
Madrid, dropping out after only a year.
The Blue Period
1901 - 1904
PICASSO
CUBISM-blue period
* Characterized by a predominantly blue
palette and subjects focusing on outcasts,
beggars, etc.
•This particular pigment is effective in
conveying a somber tone.
•Blindness is a common theme in the blue
period
* The psychological trigger for these
depressing paintings was the suicide of
PICASSO
CUBISM-blue period
BLUE PERIOD
CUBISM-blue period
The composition is
• stilted,
• the space
compressed
• the gestures stiff
• and the tones
predominantly blue
BLUE PERIOD
CUBISM-blue period
The Blind Man's Meal (1903)
Woman with A crow (1903)
Toledo Museum of Art
The Rose Period
1905 - 1906
PICASSO
CUBISM-rose period
Picasso's palette brightened, the paintings
dominated by pinks and beiges, light
blues, and roses.
His subjects are saltimbanques (circus
people), harlequins, and clowns, all of
whom seem to be mute and strangely
inactive.
The generally upbeat and optimistic mood
of paintings in this period is reminiscent of
the 1899–1901 period.
PICASSO
CUBISM-rose period
Family of Saltimbanques (1905)
ROSE PERIOD
CUBISM-rose period
Boy with a Pipe
Sculptor Picasso
PICASSO
CUBISM
CUBISM-Sculptures
Picasso explored other artistic styles to
express himself, including sculpture.
Mandolin and Clarinet and Chicago
Picasso are two examples of cubist
sculpture.
CUBISM
Mandolin and Clarinet