TEACHER'S GUIDE
CARTOONS TO REMEMBER
FundaciónMuseoDeLaPazDeGernika
Acknowledgements: To all the colleagues from the Gernika Peace Museum who have contributed to the creation and improvement of the work.
Foru Plaza, 1 48300 Gernika-Lumo (Bizkaia) Tel. +34 94 627 0213 www.museodelapaz.org E-mail: hezkuntza.museoa@gernika-lumo.net Gernika-Lumo, 2021
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index E XC E R C I S E S WO R K S H O P “ CA R T O O N S T O R E M E M B E R "
A. INTRODUCTION OF THE WORKSHOP AND THE HISTORICAL PERIOD
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B. ARTISTIC ASPECTS
19
C. DOCUMENTS FOR HISTORICAL RESEARCH
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D. CRITIQUE OF THE PRESENT DAY
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INTRODUCTION
3
THE CARTOON AS A TOOL TO LEARN ABOUT OUR HISTORY
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THE HUMOUR
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DIDACTIC PROPOSAL
11
OBJECTIVES
11
SKILLS
12
ANNEXES
RESOURCES
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CUBISM
28
SECTIONS
12
POINTILLISM
32
DURATION
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SOVIET CONSTRUCTIVISM
34
EVALUATION
13
PROCESS
15
TEACHING RESOURCES AND MATERIALS
27
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INTRODUCTION Duration 1'5-2 hours Course Online Language English Spanish Basque
ABOUT TH E EXH I BITION The Gernika Peace Museum offers an interesting exhibition entitled "Cartoons to remember: Cartoons published in Bilbao newspapers during the war in Euskadi (1936-37)" curated by historians Aline Soberon and Txema Uriarte. The exhibition "Cartoons to remember" is the result of an in-depth research work by historians Txema Uriarte and Aline Soberón into the cartoons that appeared in the Bilbao
hezkuntza.museoa@gernika-lumo.net + Info https://www.museodelapaz.org/desarrollo.php?tipo=exposicion&id=80
press during the 11 months of the war in the Basque Country. As a result, the exhibition "Humor in times of warGuda garaiko umorea" was carried out in Bilbao together
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with the Bilbao City Council and BilbaoIzan. Subsequently,
Since the end of the 18th century, the printed press in the
and
las
metropolis inserted cartoons in its main pages to illustrate
Encartaciones, a new one was carried out, "Cartoonists at
or editorialise a news item. Cartoons are therefore artistic
war-Marrazkilariak gerran", part of which can be seen in the
drawings, often hastily drawn, which develop, usually in a
exhibition at the Gernika Peace Museum. As the culmination
humorous way, an event or a thought.
of this research, the book of the same name "Viñetas para el
The exhibition at the Gernika Peace Museum is divided into
recuerdo" was published, in which more than 300 of the
three main themes: everyday life, the bombings and the
cartoons collected, redrawn one by one by Aline, are shown.
international situation.
with
the
collaboration
of
the
Museo
de
During the 1936 war, the press became a necessity. If you wanted to know where the rationing was being distributed, which air-raid shelter was being used, or get news about your son, boyfriend or husband, you had to buy a newspaper. At that time, Bilbao's newspapers proliferated with cartoons.
As could not be otherwise, Gernika is present in these cartoons. Its unjusti ed and unjusti able bombing re ects a new way of waging war that has been perpetuated to the present day. For many reasons Gernika is a symbol for people and nations who are obstinately in search of freedom. +info https://www.museodelapaz.org/desarrollo.php?tipo=exposicion&id=80
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means of jokes or winks, using praise, confusion, The cartoons and drawings in this exhibition are historical
ridiculousness, criticism, wordplay, admiration, etc.
documents as well as small works of art. Through the drawings, the illustrators refer to events, give an opinion on a subject, satirise a character or a situation, or encourage the population to continue the resistance, as these
Aline Soberón and Txema Uriarte: Cartoons for remembrance, Cartoons and drawings published in the newspapers of Bilbao from the elections of February 1936 until the fall of the city in June 1937, Mundaka, 2018.
cartoonists are experiencing the war at rst hand. During the Civil War there was an emergence of cartoons and drawings in the journalistic sector, a sector that had not known such effervescence since the freedom of the press legislated by the Second Republic. This development was very noticeable during the months that the war lasted. With this abundance of events, photographs and drawings competed for graphic space in the newspapers. Some newspapers made extensive use of drawings and cartoons to provide information, encourage and distract the reader by
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CARTOON S AS A TOOL TO LEAR N ABOUT OU R H I STORY
The Spanish Civil War (1936-39) is
As several scholars have argued, the teaching of history in
one of the historic events of the
schools contributes to ensuring peaceful and democratic
last century. The recovery of
coexistence.
historical
Here, the graphic novel (in this case, newspaper cartoons)
memory
and
the
reparation of the victims of the violence deployed by the victors of the Civil War continues to provoke controversy. For this reason, there is a need to address this issue in history lessons both in Secondary and Baccalaureate. The aim is for
becomes a very useful didactic resource for working on critical awareness and empathy towards the victims of traumatic events such as the Civil War. [...] Some academics have insisted on the need for secondary school history students to develop critical awareness and analytical skills in order to understand historical reality.
young people to understand the
[...] Secondary school students must acquire the skills
events
necessary to read and think like historians.
that
divided
society during this period.
Spanish
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Among the skills of the historian's work, the following abilities
graphic novel (a cartoon in this case) can be used to approach
stand out: identifying, contextualising and corroborating.
a speci c historical reality that constitutes the plot of the
Firstly, when reading a text, the historian identi es the type of
novel. On the other hand, the comic (the cartoon in this case),
source. Secondly, the historian insists on the need to place the
as a representation of the past or a cultural product that is
text in its corresponding time and space. And thirdly, the
inscribed in a given historical context, can serve as a source of
historian considers it necessary to corroborate the information
information about the moment in which it was created.
in the text with other sources.
[...] Therefore, the teacher must ensure that during this
[...] Before implementing the use of comics (the cartoon in this
educational
case) in the history lesson, it is essential to work on the
implemented in the classroom in order to contribute to the
conceptual contents that students should know.
students'
Finally, another important element to be considered is also the type of lesson to be drawn from the comics. Broadly speaking, these can be basically of two types. On the one hand, the
practice achievement
the of
graphic the
novel
proposed
is
properly
pedagogical
objectives. Iker Saitua: “Tristísima ceniza: una propuesta de intervención para enseñar la Guerra Civil en el País Vasco con la novela grá ca” (Sad ashes: a proposal for an intervention to teach the Civil War in the Basque Country through graphic novels), CLIO. History and History Teaching (2018), 44, pag. 183-193
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TH E HU MOU R The use of humour is a resource that is used on a daily basis in our lives. There are different types of humour: satirical,
Graphic humour is a language rich in genres and performers,
dark humour, clean humour... Humour can become a great
and is mainly expressed through jokes, comic strips, cartoons
tool to ridicule the enemy and to rally the people. It can act
and personal caricatures.
as a catalyst for social cohesion as well as for socialising collective emotions and feelings such as fear, anguish, uncertainty, anger, which are so often experienced during a period of war. We all want to laugh, and laughter has many physical and psychological bene ts.
In many parts of the world, however, the humourist, the comic, the cartoonist continue to be persecuted professions. Villalba (2017) explains: Palestinian cartoonist Mohammad Sabaaneh of Cartooning for Peace was imprisoned in Israel for a few months, incommunicado [in 2013]. Syrian cartoonist Ali Farzat became famous because he was kidnapped and had his
ngers broken [in 2011]. There are cartoonists who have suffered
physical reprisals and their integrity is in danger. Here, it's dif cult to leave the house and get fucked up with a few punches. The most that can happen is that they don't call you anymore.
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Two years after the attack, the weekly reopened its doors to The phrase "Je suis Charlie" (I am Charlie) became a trending
continue satirizing current affairs, political and religious
topic on social media in January 2015 after the attack on the
gures, with no intention of giving up what they consider to be
satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in Paris. The attack, in which
their fundamental rights.
twelve of the magazine's staff were killed, was claimed by Daesh, where among other reasons they claimed the number
However, these attacks are not only carried out against artists
of ghters returning to France, the country's jihadist target.
but also against communicators and journalists. They are
The weekly had been threatened since 2006 for caricaturing
even more frequent among artists and journalists in countries
the Prophet Mohammed, because according to Islam, deities
such as Syria or Iraq, who have been kidnapped by extremist
cannot be depicted.
groups and in some cases killed for simply exercising their freedom of expression. In other countries, for example in Mexico, the murder of journalists because of their investigations into political corruption or organised crime is a social scourge that, unfortunately, is commonplace. Graphic art is a further
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component of the media, which is one of the latent con icts in today's
societies,
where
intransigence
even
in
the
governmental sphere is on the increase *. An example of this rising trend of intransigence is the extreme radicalisation of some traditionally centre-right parties' discourse on immigration or gender. It is very important that students become aware of this problem as a complex and global phenomenon that occurs in
Text extracted from: Art i compromís durant la Guerra Civil, una perspectiva des de la cultura de pau https://www.museunacional.cat/ca/art-i-compromis-0 Guía Educart Dossiers: https://www.museunacional.cat/sites/default/ les/art-icompromis_28gener.pdf, pág. 63-66.
all types of societies.
0 CREATION OF THE WORKSHOP The initial design for this workshop was prepared by Aline Soberón, one of the authors of the book and the exhibition, and Idoia Orbe, head of Education at the Gernika Peace Museum.
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G ENERAL INFOR MATION 1 DIDACTIC PROPOSAL This workshop fall within the 4th year of ESO and the 2nd year of Bachillerato. It is a didactic unit that can be dealt with in different areas (Art, Geography and History, Art, Visual and Audiovisual Education, Ethics, ...). It is not essential, but it is advisable to introduce students to the subject of the Spanish Civil War. The contents to be covered are as follows: • The Civil War in the Basque Country. • Art in the rst half of the 20th century. • Understanding humour as a political and opinion strategy.
2 GENERAL OBJECTIVE Educate the student to be able to historically contextualise an event.
3 SECONDARY OBJECTIVES To know and work on the function of the cartoon in its different aspects. To encourage historical thinking among students. Understand the international context and the role played by major foreign powers in the Civil War. To understand the immediate consequences and legacy of the Civil War, mainly from a social and political point of view. To identify, analyse and explain, situating them in time and space, the most relevant events, processes and protagonists throughout the history of Spain and the Basque Country. The aim is to appreciate their in uence and repercussions on the current con guration of both historical realities.
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4 COMPETENCES Social and civic, to acquire critical knowledge about the memory marked by the trauma of the Civil War. Learning to learn, as students are fully aware of the learning process. Cultural awareness and expressions, as they develop knowledge of different artistic languages and codes. Artistic eld.
6 SECTIONS a)
introduction of the workshop and the historical period
b)
artistic aspects
c)
documents for historical knowledge
d) critique of the present day
7 DURATION 5 RESOURCES Human resources: facilitator Material resources: tablets to carry out the exercises, reproduction of cartoons and newspaper covers, drawing and design material (pencil, eraser, paper, computer, printer...).
The estimated duration of the workshop is between one and a half and two hours.
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EVALUATION 8 EVALUATION The evaluation of this project can be done using the rubric provided. 1. Firstly, it is proposed to use the rubric for each student to assess the work they have done (self-assessment). 2. Secondly, it can also be used for the teacher's evaluation. Students should be made aware of how to evaluate this project from the outset. The maximum mark is 16, meaning that 16 is equivalent to a conventional 10, if everything is awless. The minimum mark is 4, which is equivalent to a conventional 2.5.
Through this method, we aim to make the students aware of their learning, their level of knowledge, their teamwork and their involvement and commitment in the tasks to be carried out. According to Liarte, Laia Lluch Molins de nes rubrics as a tool for assessment and, sometimes, for grading that allows for the detailed assessment of each of the competences: "It is an ideal instrument especially for assessing competences, since it allows for dissecting the complex tasks that make up a competence into simpler tasks distributed in a gradual and operative manner". https://www.educaciontrespuntocero.com/noticias/evaluar-con-rubricas/
Cedec rubric bank: https://cedec.intef.es/cedec-lanza-unnuevo-banco-de-rubricas-y-otrosdocumentos-asociados-al-proyecto-edia/
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EVALUATION
Evaluation indicators
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Knowledge gained (Individual)
I understood the topic in depth and participated in all the re ection activities.
Working with others (Individual)
I almost always listen to, share and support the efforts of others. I try to keep the group together by working as a team.
Participation (Teamwork)
Members meet and discuss on a regular basis. All students contribute to the debate and listen respectfully. We all contribute equally to the work.
3 I understood the topic in depth and participated in some re ective activities.
I often listen, share and support the efforts of others. I do not cause "problems" in the group.
Members meet and comment regularly. Most of us contribute to the debate and most of us listen respectfully. Most of us contribute fairly to the work.
2
1
Points
I seemed to understand the main points of the topic but did not participate in any re ective activities.
I did not demonstrate an adequate understanding of the issue, nor did I engage in the re ections.
?
Sometimes I listen, share and support the efforts of others, but sometimes I am not a good member of the group.
I rarely listen to, share and support the efforts of others. I am not usually a good group member.
?
We had few team meetings. Some members contributed to the discussion and listened respectfully. Some of us contributed equally to the work.
We did not have team meetings. Some team members did not contribute equally to the work.
? 14
Participation (Individual)
I made an excellent contribution, presented my work well and participated in everything.
I worked well in the group, provided input and presented quality information.
I provided some information, but I was not clear in the information presented.
I provided very little information throughout the project.
?
P ROCES S
I NTRODUCTI ON
P I CTOR I AL STYLES OF CARTO ON I STS
N EWS PAP ER I M M ERS I ON
R EC O G N I S E CHARACTERS
CARTO ON ANALYS I S
EXH I BI TI ON OF CARTO ON S
P RODUCE A CARTO ON
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EXCERCI SES 1 Introduction of the workshop and the historical period
1.2. Explain the topic (the cartoons) brie y.
1.1. Place all the cartoons on the walls of the classroom for
Then watch the video to immerse yourself in the subject (4:33
when the pupils arrive.
min.). This video offers a glimpse of the era, along with real
Before taking part in the workshop, it is advisable to have a
images and cartoons.
basic knowledge of the Spanish Civil War. Click here to download the cartoons in pdf format.
Gernika. Viñetas para el recuerdo …
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1cOhHK3cECVNC6JOVn9tO_RHPj5r2OTPN
To learn about the art of the cartoon
and
the
historical
context in depth, it is worth reading the book Viñetas para
el recuerdo, on which the exhibition is based.
https://www.museodelapaz.org/denda/guerra-civil/45-vinetas-para-el-recuerdo.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAZ9drpjDXI&feature=emb_logo
5 minutes
Teamwork
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These questions will help you in this re ection exercise: 1.3. Show some newspapers of the period with cartoons. Observe the various newspapers. Re ect on the importance of cartoons. 10 minutes
In groups of 3-4 people
1936-37 newspapers •
How big is the headline?
•
How large is the cartoon?
•
What is the size of the letters in the text?
•
…
Today, our present-day •
Are you in the habit of reading the newspaper?
•
If you read it, is it in paper or digital?
•
Have you ever noticed in which pages the cartoons are
published? (Berria, Deia, El Correo, El País, Público, El Diario, The Times, Le Monde, Die Welt...) •
Do you understand what these cartoons are trying to
convey? •
What dif culties do we encounter when we do not know
the context of the cartoon? https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1sHp-ghmgiwJOyJQcismC3-rnSwb TjU
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Cartoons in today's digital newspapers: https://www.eldiario.es/ https://www.deia.eus/humor/ https://www.elcorreo.com/opinion/vinetas/
3. Discuss in a big group the re ections that have arisen in the small group.
5 minutes
In a big group
https://www.berria.eus/ https://elpais.com/noticias/vinetas/ https://www.publico.es/ https://www.thetimes.co.uk/profile/peter-brookes?page=1 https://www.lemonde.fr/dessins/ If you wish to delve deeper into the newspapers of the period, these links take you to the archives of Biscay, Guipuzcoa and the newspaper archive of the Basque press: Biscay
https://liburutegibiltegi.bizkaia.eus/handle/20.500.11938/2? locale-attribute=esa/listado.asp?Tem_Codigo=2542&Idioma=CA
Guipuzcoa
https://w390w.gipuzkoa.net/WAS/CORP/DKPAtzokoPrentsaWE B/izenburuAurkibidea.do
Newspaper archive
http://www.hemeroketa.eus/
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The game 2 2.1.
Artistic aspects Recognise
different
avant-garde
pictorial
styles
(pointillism, cubism and Soviet constructivism) and identify the style of various cartoonists. The teacher will give a brief explanation of the characteristics
https://view.genial.ly/619e02f2cef6440dea16b17f/g ame-breakout-cartoonists-artistic-styles-game
of each style (see annex), showing works to identify them
2.2. After the game, we draw the conclusions
more clearly.
What style does each cartoonist have? What does their style re ect?
5 minutes
The entire group
What period is each style from? To what extent do the cartoonists respect each style? Do they
Participants will have to identify the style of some of the
mix different styles?
cartoonists using an interactive game.
How does the cartoonist explain the situation? Do they use colour? Is colour important?
10 minutes
In groups of 2-3 poeple
10 minutes
In a big group
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3.2. Re ection -What are the clues that have helped you identify each character?
3 Documents for historical study
-What role do these characters play in the Civil War?
3.1. Recognise the main characters of the war in the Basque Country that appear in the cartoons.
-How are they portrayed and what are their characteristics according to these cartoons?
Participants will have to identify the main characters of the cartoons using an interactive game.
8 minutes
The entire group
3.3. Analysis of the cartoons
The game
-Each group will choose one of the suggested topics. -They should look among the cartoons on display that t their topic. -Subsequently, they should explain to the rest of the groups https://view.genial.ly/619e0242316d240de3d4729c/ga me-breakout-cartoonists-the-characters-game
what they have discussed in their group. -To do this, they should read and look carefully at the cartoons they have chosen.
10 minutes
In groups of 2-3 people
-The questions suggested in each topic can be helpful for re ection, identi cation and contextualisation.
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Cartoons from the exhibition directly related to these three themes:
Topics: a-To
develop,
through
the
cartoons,
what
were
the
consequences of the war (hunger, rationing, black market, evacuations, disaster, deaths...).
A - Consequences of the war - How is war shown? - What is the situation in the rear, in the areas where there is
b-Analyse the role played by women as judged by how they are portrayed in the cartoons.
no direct war? - How are soldiers, armies of different nationalities shown? - Are there similarities and differences with the situation in
c-The solidarity between nations. What role do the European
other regions of the state?
powers play in the civil war? 10 minutes
First in small groups. Then the entire group
21 The questions suggested in each topic can be helpful for re ection, identi cation and contextualisation.
B - Women
C - The solidarity between nations
- How many cartoons feature women?
- Which countries are involved in the Spanish Civil War?
- What role do women play in war?
- What kind of participation is it? Is it public, is it covert...?
- What are the consequences for women during this period
- Who helps who?
of war?
- What is the reaction of the other countries?
-Does it correspond to reality?
- How are the various heads of state shown?
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4.2. Next, choose one of the following options and draw a cartoon.
4 Criticism of the present day
It is a matter of using creativity and the resource of humour to
4.1. We will make a cartoon.
allow us to laugh, to relativise and to give new visions of the
First of all, we will choose a current affairs topic that will help us to work on critical awareness and empathy towards the victims of traumatic events or of our everyday reality.
4.2.1. Choose a current situation and draw a cartoon by hand (starting from scratch, on a blank sheet of paper). 4.2.2. Use an existing cartoon (from the exhibition or
Possible topics for this exercise: During the exam period, all the work piles up: preapare for exams, present works and, what's more, study all the subjects at the same time. How Covid19 has changed our lives. In class, there is always someone alone and left out, but no one does anything about it. All summer festivals have been cancelled. … 5 minutes
situation.
In a small group
elsewhere), remove the texts and transform it to the current situation according to the chosen theme. 4.2.3. Use a cartoon from the exhibition featuring a famous person and superimpose a picture of a current person (pictures of faces or other current objects can be taken from current newspapers or from the internet).
10 minutes
In a small group
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Some important concepts before you start drawing: -Remember to be critical but respectful. Humour, satire, provocation are always a means, not the goal. They should serve to draw attention to a subject, and once captured, they
The text on the previous page has been extracted from: Art i compromís durant la Guerra Civil, una perspectiva des de la cultura de pau https://www.museunacional.cat/ca/art-i-compromis-0 Guía Educart Dossiers: https://www.museunacional.cat/sites/default/ les/art-icompromis_28gener.pdf, pág. 63-66.
will convey a message. -You can turn your enemy or fear into a cartoon, whether it is a person or a concept. Think about what the most
4.3. Exhibition of the cartoons drawn according to the chosen topic.
characteristic features are and exaggerate them. Make an
It is advisable to display the vignettes in a visible place as we
effort to think about how that person or that idea is
often have shared monsters, and when they are collectivised
recognised, how the essence can be portrayed.
they also become smaller.
-Think in terms of opposites. If, for example, we want to
If it is a new cartoon, it must be shown and explained.
represent the fear of "loneliness", exaggerate what it means to
If it is a transformed cartoon, it must be shown, explained
be with other people. This strategy can be used to distance
and compared with the original.
yourself from it and nd a comical way of talking about it.
5 minutes
The entire group
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Example of reconversion of a cartoon
4.4. Possible questions for nal re ection (if there is time). How does the cartoon change? Do the cartoons really serve to understand the reality of the moment? Do you think it is an appropriate tool to vindicate facts or situations?
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© Jordi Vilalta
5 minutes
The entire group
TEACHING R ES OURCES AND MATER IALS
Wo r k s h e e t about the exhibition https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ly5531 Xrh30ifnfAVqY8szEqZbP9WKsD
V i d e o : G e r n i ka . V i ñ e t a s para el recuerdo (1936-37) https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=zAZ9drpjDXI&feature=emb_logo
G e r n i ka P e a c e Museum https://www.museodelapaz.org
Video: TV Report O i z m e n d i Te l e b i s t a (in Basque)
Exhibition in PDF for ma t: Cartoons to remember
https://www.oizmendi.eus/herriak/21berriak/kultura/1972-erakusketaoroimenerako-binetak-bakearen-museoan
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ 1cOhHK3cECVNC6JOVn9tO_RHPj5r2O TPN
https://liburutegibiltegi.bizkaia.eus/handle/20.500.11 938/2?locale-attribute=esa/listado.asp? Tem_Codigo=2542&Idioma=CA
Video with didactic material on the exhibition https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=Pd3yqSphafw
Newspapers of the time
https://w390w.gipuzkoa.net/WAS/CORP/DKPAtzoko PrentsaWEB/izenburuAurkibidea.do http://www.hemeroketa.eus/
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ANNEXES
THE FIRST PHASE OF CUBI SM Cubist art is considered to be an artistic movement that was present between
Cubism had as its ideological basis the notion that an image is always observed
1907 and 1914. Cubism is considered a pioneering avant-garde movement
from di erent points of view, as it is three-dimensional. This led the artists who
because it was responsible for breaking with perspective, the last Renaissance
developed this movement to seek new forms of pictorial representation, among
principle that was still in force at the beginning of the century. Cubism was
which the break with the real image was made present through the formation of
centred on the city of Paris, and the leaders and masters of the movement were
cubes and other geometric forms. The presence of numerous and certainly
the Spaniards Pablo Picasso and Juan Gris and the Frenchmen Georges Braque
chaotic geometric
and Fernand Léger, but the artist Cézanne had already blazed the trail, who,
represent the very complexity of everyday life.
influenced by Impressionism, reacted against it, rejecting print in favour of a deeper understanding of reality. Cézanne believed that nature is not drawn, but manifests itself through colour, his painting not being drawn, but a painting of volumes, of forms, relating them to each other once they have been created. This is where the problem of planes arose, which led him to look at objects from various points of view. It originated in France and was made famous by the artists belonging to this style, among whom we can highlight Pablo Picasso. This style of art was an essential kind of art as it gave rise to the other avant-gardes in Europe in the 20th century. Therefore, it is the nal break that art had with traditional painting.
gures gave the image a unique complexity that aimed to
The concept of Cubism was created by the critic Louis Vauxcelles, the same man who baptised the Fauves. This term originated from a critique he made of an artistic work which he called "cubes", and since then the concept of cubism was born. Cubist art would not have been possible without the advent of photography, which, by representing visual reality more accurately than painting, freed the la er from the obligation to represent things as they appear before our eyes and forced artists to seek a meaning other than the mere transcription of the external appearance of things in two dimensions.
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ANNEXES The appearance of Cubism has also been linked to two other developments in
A new concept called "multiple perspective" emerged, i.e. all the parts were
the same decade, namely psychoanalysis, which showed that there may be
developed on the same plane.
deeper motivations for human thoughts and actions, and the theory of relativity,
The works became uncompromising in terms of the aesthetics of things,
which revealed that the world is not exactly in its deep structure.
which is why they appeared on the same plane and at di erent times, for example, in the case of human faces, the nose was represented in pro le
Main features of Cubism The disconnection with nature is achieved through the decomposition of the gure into its minimal parts, into planes, which will be studied in themselves
and the eye was represented from the front. There is no longer a single vision, which is why there is no sense of depth in works of art.
and not in the global vision of volume.
Portraits, landscapes, and urban still lifes, were the main subjects that were
Cubism is a mental art, the work having value in itself, expressing ideas.
most prominent when depicted.
Cubism was the de nitive break with the Renaissance style. In Cubist works
As far as colour is concerned, the most commonly used are muted tones
of art, therefore, the traditional view of art disappears completely.
such as browns, greens or greys, that is to say, all the colours that
This style of art is mainly based on nature represented by geometric gures
characterised Fauvism or Impressionism are removed.
or shapes and by fragmenting surfaces and lines, in a simpli ed form, into
The gradations of light and shade disappear and the colours of reality are no
cubes, cylinders and spheres.
longer used, with black and white appearing in the representations. Geometric shapes invade the compositions. The abstract style was not used, the form was always respected.
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ANNEXES TH E MAI N P HAS ES OF CU BI ST ART There are di erent stages in the gradual development of this style of art, among which we can highlight the following:
works. The main compositional characteristics of synthetic cubism lie in the choice of juxtaposition or superimposition of di erent parts of a performance. It
Analytical cubist art It is known as the rst phase of cubism that goes from 1909 and ends in 1912 and its precursor is Paul Cézanne. The artists dedicated themselves to the analysis of images and their reconstruction through these geometric forms. Their aim became a deeper search, which tried to extrapolate from reality and represent the very essence of the visible. This phase was characterised by the decomposition and imbalance of gures and forms. Its main aim was to observe them and try to establish a separate order. It was at this stage that one could see a cubism that was di icult to understand and very pure.It was characterised by the decomposition of form and
with di erent textures and surfaces such as collage to create novel pictorial
gures into multiple parts, all of them
geometric. forms of the cone, cylinder and sphere and through the use of pure colour. The la er was an analytical process called induction. Synthetic cubist art A term that generally identi es the second part of the pictorial movement that commonly dates back to 1912, when Picasso painted Nature morte à la chaise
cannée. The authors developed new techniques that enabled them to work
often makes use of relevant techniques, such as collage and papier collé, thus favouring compositions of polioculari objects visions of the same object. At this stage the objects were no longer observed and ordered, but rather a summary of the essential gure, which is why di erent parts of the painting are highlighted. The synthesis is made by highlighting on the canvas the most signi cant parts of the gure that will be seen from all sides. Cubist painters Pablo Ruiz Picasso: his outstanding works within cubist art were several, as an example we have Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, which represents a brothel in Barcelona.The paintings depict naked women with dis gured faces, influenced by Cézanne, Iberian art and black sculpture, in which he breaks with all the traditional rules of
gurative painting by fragmenting perspective into square
and angular volumes. Other works by Pablo Ruiz Picasso were the Nude with
Towel, The Horta de Ebro Factory, and Portrait of Ambosio Vollard. One of his best works was Guernica, the painting symbolising the horror of the Spanish Civil War
30
ANNEXES and the bombing that destroyed the Basque town of Gernika, in a cubist style
been turned into a sort of metallic robots, with other important works such as
and with a symbolism of surrealism and expressionist deformations.
The Acrobats, The Cylinders, The Propellers.
George Braque: He is the other great creator of Cubism. He discovered that forms
There are many other very famous painters of this style of art. Among them we
could be simpli ed by reducing them to prisms and cylinders. In his Still Life with
can highlight some of those who are still known today, as well as their works,
Playing Cards he reduced chromaticism to grey colours and geometrised and
these artists are: Jean Metzinger, Robert Delaunay, Albert Gleizs. Of course,
decomposed forms to create a new reality by means of superimpositions and
many more artists from this period are known today, but the best known and
transparencies. He also delved into collage. Other outstanding works include
therefore the most famous are these artists.
Still Life with the Guitar, Still Life with the Cello and The Painter's Studio. Juan Gris: His Cubism is fundamentally synthetic and coloured. He used compositions with a rm structure and harmonious rhythm. He mixes softness and energy, which can be seen in the arrangement of his still lifes, executed on
+info https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/c/cubism
the basis of very violent planes. He focuses on the theme of still life, with elements such as glasses, bo les, diaries, fruit bowls, pipes, harlequins, musical elements. Outstanding works include Still Life, Breakfast and Still Life on a Chair. Fernand Léger: he worked in a cubism that tended towards mechanical and tubular forms. His most frequently used themes were related to everyday life and the machinism of the big city, with characters with a certain automaton-like character. We have works such as The Card Game, where the protagonists have
31
ANNEXES
Les Demoiselles d ' Av i g n o n . P a b l o Picasso, 1907
Sti ll Life with P layi ng Cards, George Braque, 1913
Breakfast (Le Petit déjeuner), Juan Gris, 1914
Soldiers playing cards, Fernand Léger, 1917
T h r e e Wo m e n , Fernand Léger, 1921
Portrait of Dora Maar, Picasso, 1936
29 Art scu plture faces, Picasso
POI NTI LLI S M
ANNEXES
Pointillism is an artistic technique that consists of making a work through the
object. At a given distance these tiny particles are optically mixed and the result
use of tiny dots. It rst appeared in 1869, spearheaded by the neo-Impressionist
would produce a much greater colour intensity than any mixture of pigments.
painter Georges Seurat, who was followed by artists such as Henri-Edmond Cross and Vlaho Bukovac. This procedure consists of placing dots of pure colours instead of brushstrokes on the canvas. This was the result of the chromatic studies carried out by Georges Seurat (1859-1891), the French painter, who in 1884 arrived at the division of tones by the position of touches of colour which,
+info https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointillism
when viewed from a distance, create the desired combinations on the retina. Another of the most important Pointillist artists was Paul Signac, who participated with Seurat and other Neo-Impressionists in the Société des Artistes Indépendants (1884), all of them followers of Pointillism or Divisionism. It is related to Divisionism, a more technical variant of the method. Divisionism is concerned with colour theory, while Pointillism focuses more on the speci c style of brush used to apply the paint. It is a technique with few serious practitioners today, and is notably seen in the works of Seurat, Signac and Cross. By adopting tiny, dot-like brushstrokes, they succeeded in accumulating, even on small surfaces, a great variety of colours and tones, each of which corresponded to one of the elements contributing to the appearance of the
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ANNEXES
Entrance to the Port of Marseilles, Paul Signac, 1911 A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, Georges Pierre Seurat, 1884
G r a y We a t h e r , G r a n d e Jatte, Georges Pierre Seurat, 1888 Morning, Interior, Maximilien Luce, 1890.
Le Cirque, Georges Pierre Seurat, 1891
Le Pont Neuf, Hi ppolyte Petitjean, 1912
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ANNEXES
S OV I ET C ON STRUCTI V I S M Russian constructivism is an artistic movement that triumphed in Russia in the
Constructivism, Vladimir Tatlin's Monument to the Third International. The la er
1920s. Painting, graphic design, photography and cinema show its influence, but
was never built, and combined a machine aesthetic with dynamic components
it was in architecture that it found its most concrete and revolutionary
that celebrated technology, such as spotlights and projection screens.
application. The movement arose from the rejection of the decorative and ornamental excesses that it considered typical of bourgeois art. In contrast to the neoclassicism and Art Nouveau prevailing in the rest of Europe, they created an art based on simplicity, pure lines and geometric forms, inspired by Cubism and Futurism.
Russian constructivism in graphic design Pure geometric forms, linearity, symmetry, repetition, simple dry stick typefaces, dominance of red and black, repetition, photomontage... With these elements, the Constructivists created a style of graphic design that shunned all arti ce and which we still associate today with post-revolutionary Russia. One of its
Art at the service of the revolution
functions was to inform a largely illiterate population of the new government's
Constructivism became the o icial art of the Russian Revolution after its
policies. To do this, one of the main characteristics is used: the manipulation of
triumph and the aesthetic manifestation of the new socialist society.
typography to give each part of the text the characteristics (body, colour) that
Constructivists understood art as another tool of the revolution, which could and
correspond to its importance in the message as a whole.
should contribute to the formation of the new social order and the spread of
Its central
socialist ideology. The artists wished to change the world with their artworks,
Lissitzky and the Stenberg brothers. The advertising agency founded by
which they always considered from a utilitarian and functional perspective,
Rodchenko together with the poet Mayakovsky produced more than 150 designs
where aesthetics is always at the service of function.
and advertising pieces between 1923 and 1925.
gures were Aleksandr Rodchenko, his wife Varvara Stepanova, El
The design style was influenced by the industrial revolution that took place in Soviet territory after the revolution. We see it in one of the main works of
+info
https://www.connectionsbyfinsa.com/russian-constructivism/?lang=en
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ANNEXES It is 1925 in the newly created USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), the revolutionary process has brought with it a series of changes in the social
advertising throughout the 20th century. And the movie is today considered a
structure of the time, and it is (at least up to that time) fertile ground for the
cult
incipient avant-garde. Painting, cinema, music, architecture... Soviet artists
director Brian De Palma was inspired by the
seemed determined to break with art as it had been understood up to that time
pram tumbling down the stairs, which appears in his lm The Untouchables of
and to put all their talents at the service of communist propaganda and the
Eliot Ness.
lm and one of the masterpieces of the Soviet
lm avant-garde. Indeed,
lm for the famous scene of the
construction of a new society. It was in this context that Alexander Rodchenko designed this and other posters for Soviet lmmaker Sergei Eisenstein's lm Ba leship Potemkin, which recounts the events of the failed a empt at popular revolution in 1905.
+info https://www.britannica.com/topic/Battleship-Potemkin
The work is a clear example of the groundbreaking proposals in the world of graphic design made at that time by artists such as El Lissitzky, Varvara Stepanova and Rodchenko himself. The aggressive and striking use of colour, the recurring use of diagonals and the incorporation of typography as an additional element in the pictorial composition are unmistakable characteristics of this period. in addition, they bear a certain resemblance to the contemporary works produced at the Bauhaus. Rodchenko's designs proved to be hugely influential in graphic design and
35
ANNEXES
Constr uctivist poster by M a i a kow s k i
Va r v a r a - S t e p a n o v a : poster Through Red and White Glasses, 1924
B o o ks ! p o s t e r by A l e xa n d e r R o d c h e n k o
Battleship Potempkin, A l e xa n d e r R o d c h e n k o , 1 9 2 5
Soviet Russian propaganda p o s t e r , V l a d i m i r M ay a kov s k y a n d A l e xa n d e r R o d c h e n k o , 1923
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