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Cubism

Cubism was a radical movement that took place in the early 20th century, primarily in France. It marked the beginning of abstract, non-objective art. The term "Cubism" [French and English: "cube"] was coined by the French critic Louis Vauxcelles, who disparaged the work of Georges Braque in 1908 as "bizarreries cubiques". The painter Paul Cézanne is viewed as a forerunner of Cubism: "Everything in nature takes its form from the sphere, the cone and the cylinder." That statement of Cézanne's and his style of painting in passages of deliquescent color inspired Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque to emphasise the Cubist values of objects and extrapolate them as essential. In 1907/08 Cubism made the transition from representational to abstract form. Cubism countered realistic painting by trying to overcome the representation of objects in linear perspective from a particular angle. Between 1910 and 1912 that endeavour produced "Analytical Cubism", which fragmented objects into facets and, instead of approaching them from a subjectively chosen angle, depicted them from various perspectives, ie, in several views simultaneously. Earthy, brown and grey tones predominate in the Cubist palette. The "Synthetic Cubism" that grew up between 1912 and 1915 as a countermovement to Analytical Cubism featured a new kind of flat composition made up of pre-existing color surfaces. The surfaces were reduced in number but larger in size and outlines were clearer; in addition, these pictures were more colorful. Cubists achieved an impression of spatial depth without venturing beyond two dimensionality by succinctly shading surfaces and intercutting them. Synthetic Cubism gave rise to Collage, which incorporated in pictures materials actually alien to painting such as pieces of wallpaper, chair caning or newspaper cuttings. By 1914 Cubism was at its height; not long afterwards it ceased to be a distinctive style. Nevertheless, Cubism exerted a strong influence on the work of numerous later artists, including Lionel Feininger and Kurt Schwitters. Marcel Duchamp painted in the Cubist manner at first (for instance, the famous "Nude Descending a Staircase") but turned towards Conceptual art, of which he was the instigator. The following are exponents of Cubism:
Georges Braque (1882-1963)
Josef Čapek (1887-1945)
Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956)
Juan Gris (1887-1927)
Lev Alexandrovich Judin (1903-1941)
Francis Picabia (1879-1953)
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)