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ART HISTORY 4450 Cubism: Analytical
Cubism •
leaders: developed by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque (c. 1907)
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definition: “The art of painting original arrangements composed of elements taken from conceived rather than perceived reality.” -- Guillaume Apollinaire, The Beginnings of Cubism (1912)
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style:
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technique: break down subjects into a number of facets, showing several different aspects of one object simultaneously
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context: physics – Poincaré (July 1905) suggests Newton’s law of gravitation is not valid – Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity (1905)
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phases: Picasso – Blue Period (1901-04) – Rose Period (1904-05) – Pre-Analytical Cubism (1906) – Proto-Analytical Cubism (1907-1909) – Analytic Cubism (c. 1910–12) – Synthetic Cubism (1912-1921)
marks a rupture w/ European traditions traceable to Renaissance of pictorial illusionism and organization of compositional space in terms of linear perspective
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Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) •
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biography: – born in 1881 in Malaga, SP – grew up in Barcelona – father was an instructor at art school – as adolescent, associated w/ a large group of artists and writers that gathered at Quatre Gats café – first visited Paris during 1900 World’s Fair • during two month stay, he immersed himself in art galleries as well as the bohemian cafés, night-clubs, and dance halls of Montmartre – settled in Paris (1904) • became friendly w/ artist Georges Braque, with whom he developed Cubism • writers Max Jacob and Guillaume Apollinaire style: changed many times throughout his career – from classical figures to radical abstractions
Blue Period (1901-04)
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Old Guitarist (1903) – –
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period: psychological trigger • suicide of Picasso’s friend Casagemas subjects: disenfranchised/marginalized • outcasts & beggars • prostitutes figure: mannered (see El Greco) • attenuated proportions • angular contours perspective: simultaneous view • directly at face & upper torso • down upon lower torso (legs) color: predominantly blue palette • Symbolist device light/shadow: creates volume brushwork: controlled (academic)
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Rose Period (1904-05)
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Family of Saltimbanques (1905) – – – – – – –
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setting: barren landscape composition: stabilizing & dynamic color: palette brightens • pinks, roses, beiges, pale blues brushwork: patchy light/shadow: evenly distributed forms: established by contour/line figures: less depressing • saltimbanques (circus people), harlequins, and clowns • mute, inactive poses: traditional and stylized
Pre-Analytical Cubism (c. 1906) •
Gertrude Stein (1906) – – – –
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subject: among first Americans to respond w/ enthusiasm to artistic revolution in Europe during early 20C process: over seventy (70) sketches pose: seated in a large armchair figure: reduced to simple masses • wearing her favorite brown velvet coat and skirt • massive body aptly suggested beneath drapery composition: stabilized, yet enlivened by ¾ turn color: muted, narrow range; accented w/ remnants of Rose period light/shadow: directed onto face, yet does not diffuse other forms facial features: suggested by African, Roman, and indigenous Iberian (SP) sculpture • painted the head, which differs in style from the body and hands, w/out sitter • testifies to fact this was his personal vision, rather than empirical reality
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Proto-Analytical Cubism (c. 1907-09) • Self-Portrait (1907) – style: “designo” tradition – aim: to concentrate on pattern or structure of shapes – aesthetic: multiple sources • “primitivism” • Classicism – color: de-emphasized; muted – brushwork: crude; patchy – forms: • outlined by thick, coarse contour • series of interlocking planes set in unusual angles • stylized, blurred, repeated, or broken down into basic shapes (relate to Cézanne)
(Left) Cézanne Post-Impressionist Self Portrait (c. 1890) vs. (right) Picasso’s Cubist Self Portrait (c. 1910)
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Proto-Analytical Cubism •
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon – – – – –
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date: 1907 artist: Picasso subject: brothel scene poses: seductive/erotic & Classical figures: • violent distortions • faces “primitive” masks • flat, splintered planes rather than rounded volumes facial features: • asymmetrical • masks magical protectors against dangerous spirits • P’s “first exorcism painting” – life-threatening sexual disease » source of considerable anxiety in Paris at the time » earlier sketches link sexual pleasure to mortality spatial order: • flattened & shallow • geometric & sculptural color: muted, icy
Details of women’s faces from Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon
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Detail of still-life from Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon
(Left) detail of still-life from Picasso’s proto-Analytical Cubist Les Desmoiselles d’Avignon (1907) vs. (right) Cezanne’s Post-Impressionist Still-life with Fruit (1880)
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Proto-Analytical Cubism •
Three Women (1908) – – – – – – –
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artist: Picasso subject: traditional (i.e., Three Graces) poses: Classical (see Dying Noibid) composition: stable color: limited range light/shadow: assumed by role of color forms: see influence of Cezanne’s geometric simplification • still retain illusion of weight, mass & volume surfaces: broken into sharply defined planes • not yet complexly fragmented perspective: compressed, shallow
(Left) Classical Greek Dying Noibid (c. 450 BCE) vs. (right) Picasso’s Proto-Analytical Cubist Three Women (c. 1900 CE)
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Proto-Analytical Cubism
• Houses at L’Estaque (1908) – – – –
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artist: Braque setting: south of FR spatial order: compressed perspective: non-traditional • linear mannered linear • aerial obstructed view into deep space forms: abstracted • defined by contour & basic shapes (see Cezanne) composition: dynamic use of diagonals offset by cubic forms color: muted light/shadow: est. by color
(Left) Braque’s Proto-Analytical Cubist Fruit Dish (1908-09) vs. (right) Cezanne’s Post-Impressionist Still-life with Fruit (1880)
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Analytical Cubism (c. 1910–12) •
aim:
to show spatial shift from different perspectives w/in same time & space (see Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, 1905)
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definition/characteristics: – influence of Cézanne’s formal innovations – refers to “analysis” or “breaking down” of form and space – fragmented objects and pictorial space into semi-transparent, overlapping, faceted planes of pigment – emphasize canvas’s real two-dimensional flatness, instead of conveying illusory appearance of depth
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aesthetic: – austere & depersonalized – limited palette: ochers, browns, greens, grays, and blacks
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effect: almost complete abstraction – elusive references to recognizable forms and objects cannot always be precisely identified
Analytical Cubism
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Woman w/ Mandolin (1910) – –
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aim: formalist, detached objectivity figure: abstract • massing of body parts • fragmented into geometric planes • overlapping & interlocking spatial order: shallow; foreshortened composition: stable color: monochromatic light/shadow: chiaroscuro • establishes limited passages of volumetric forms
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(Left) Picasso’s Analytical Cubist Woman w/ Mandolin (1910) vs. Picasso’s Blue Period The Old Guitarist (1903)
Analytical Cubism
• Ambrose Vollard (1910) – – – – –
artist: Picasso subject: art dealer perspective: eliminated color: monchromatic spatial order: faceted planes • overlap and merge w/ one another in shallow relief – figure: • only face is recognizable • body dissolves in fragmented environment – no weight, mass, or volume
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Analytical Cubism • Ma Jolie (1911) – title: “My Pretty One” – artist: Picasso – aim: method of visually laying out facts, rather than mimetic representation – forms: deconstructed into their components – perspective: simultaneous viewpoints – color: monochromatic – brushwork: patchy – light/shadow: creates limited volume – innovation: inclusion of words
IMAGE INDEX • •
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PICASSO, Pablo. Self-Portrait (c. 1900). PICASSO, Pablo. The Old Guitarist (1903/04), Oil on panel, 122.9 x 82.6 cm., Art Institute of Chicago. PICASSO, Pablo. Family of Saltimbanques (1905), Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. PICASSO, Pablo. Gertrude Stein (1906), Oil on canvas, 39 3/8 x 32 in., Bequest of Gertrude Stein, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. PICASSO, Pablo. Self-Portrait (1907). (Left) CEZANNE, Paul. Self-Portrait (1882), Oil on canvas, 25 5/8 x 20 5/8 in., Tate Gallery, London; and (right) PICASSO Self-Portrait (1907). PICASSO, Pablo. Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907), Oil on canvas, 8' x 7' 8“, acquired through the Lillie P. Bliss Bequest, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York. Details of women’s faces from Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.
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IMAGE INDEX • •
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Detail of still-life from Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. (Left) detail of still-life from Picasso’s proto-Analytical Cubist Les Desmoiselles d’Avignon (1907) vs. (right) Cezanne’s Post-Impressionist Still-life with Fruit (1880). PICASSO, Pablo. Three Women (1908), oil on canvas, 79 x 73 in., Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia. (Left) Classical Greek Dying Noibid (c. 450 BCE); and (right) Picasso’s Proto-Analytical Cubist Three Women (c. 1900 CE) BRAQUE, Georges. Houses at L'Estaque (1908), Oil on canvas, 28 3/4 x 23 1/2 in., Kunstmuseum, Bern, Germany. (Left) Braque’s proto-Analytical Cubist Fruit Dish (1908-09); and (right) Cezanne’s Post-Impressionist Still-life with Fruit (1880). PICASSO, Pablo. Woman with a Mandolin (Fanny Tellier) Paris, spring (1910), Oil on canvas, 39 1/2 x 29 in., The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York.
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(Left) Picasso’s Analytical Cubist Woman w/ Mandolin (1910) vs. Picasso’s Blue Period The Old Guitarist (1903). PICASSO, Pablo. Portrait of Vollard (1911). PICASSO, Pablo. Ma Jolie (1911), Oil on canvas, 39 3/8 x 25 3/4 in., Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York.
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