What is Cubism? Definition Essay Example

According to Stokstad (1077), Cubism is an avant-garde art movement of the early 20th century championed by Georges Braque together with his friend Pablo Picasso but later another group of artists joined them. The movement inspired other fields of visual and performing arts like music, architecture and literature. Cubism is viewed as more effective art movement during the twentieth century. As Picasso implied the person viewing the painting has to approach it in a manner that he or she would access a musical composition Stokstad (1077)

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Cubism was considered a highly influential style of visual art in the 20th century, Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque are the two artists that created this form of art in Paris between the years 1907 and 1914. The Cubist style accentuates flat and two-dimensional images on the surface of the picture in a broken technique that contradicts long time recognized doctrines of art as the reflection of nature. Cubist painters were not obligated to copying form, texture, color, and space; instead, they presented a new reality in paintings that characterized radically fragmented objects, whose several sides were seen simultaneously.

Typical cubist painters frequently show letters, musical instruments, bottles, pitchers, glasses, newspapers, still lifes, and the human face and figure. Support this reason with evidence based on contextual information and or information that describes how formal elements do this

Cubist artwork, are characterized with analyzed objects, wrecked down and reassembled Instead of portraying images or objects out of one angle, therefore, the artist portrays the focus from numerous angles to symbolize the subject in-depth context.

Cubist works of art represent an artistic subject from numerous perspectives simultaneously. Some of their paintings are so similar that many critics find it challenging to tell the differences.

Synthetic Cubism proved to be fairly important and influential for later artists. Instead of depending on depicted shapes and forms to represent figures, Picasso and Braque began to explore the use of foreign objects as abstract signs. Their use of newspaper would lead later historians to argue that, instead of being concerned above all with form, the artists were also acutely aware of current events - in particular, WWI and the history behind it, therefore some of the work reflected this evidence including revolutions like the American Revolution. In fact, in examining the fundamental causes of the revolution, it has been discerned by those who have studied it closely to have been more a revolution of ideas, which culminated in a rational choice, well thought out, where a people having come to a new light of consciousness, decided to rewrite the social contract and define a new future for themselves in the form of art work.

What gave birth to this change of heart in matters of freedom and empire was that the colonists had been born at a time when discussions on the social contract between the government and the governed were rife. These colonists, many of whom were descendants of individuals who had fled oppression in the old world, as they began to spread out in the vast American landmass, became jealous of protecting the freedom that they now enjoyed, and were wary of anything that might curtail those freedoms in the future. As the British renewed their interest in the affairs of the colonies after the Seven Years War, or the Indian Wars, the colonist began to apprehend that this new policy would lead to a change in their relations to the Empire. The seed of rebellion and revolution had been planted. The Americans, acting not out of a sense of current injustice, but out of a fear of future tyranny, began to ferment revolutionary discord within their midst

Cubism laid the foundation for geometric abstract art by establishing an exclusively new emphasis on the unity between the portrayed scene in a painting, and the surface of the canvas. Its alterations would be adopted by the likes of Piet Mondrian, who continued to explore its use especially the grid, its abstract system of signs, and its flat space.

Why artist choose to identify LesDemoiselles DeAvignon with cubism movement. Choose in the critical interpretation and support your claim with specific ideas from the readings and specific evidence from the painting. The world at large views the painting, LesDemoiselles d'Avignon, as the most famous example of cubism painting. To paint this particular masterpiece, Picasso disregarded traditional forms and accepted forms of representation of art. He applied alterations of women's torso and geometric forms in a contemporary manner, which objects to the assumption that paintings will offer glorified images of female artistry.

"Lesdemoiselles d'Avignon" is a true depiction of cubist painting as seen in the paintings surface resemblance of fractured glass and is so radical that it was not easy for analysts, contemporary avant-garde painters and critics to comprehend it. It destroyed dimensional depth and the ideal form of the female nude and turned it into harsh, angular shapes.

Another element that scores Lesdemoiselles d'Avignon as a cubist painting is depicted in Picassos' use of clear pure bright pigments. This means that, the artist selected deeper tones that marches metropolitan interior light. Therefore, Picasso did replace the elegant curves portrayed by Bonheur deVivre with spiky, toothed, almost crushed forms. The form of Picassos lady appears dangerous. LesDemoiselles d'Avignon can be defined as a large piece of oil painting designed around 1907 by a well known Spanish artist called by the name Pablo Picasso. It is a reflection of nude women who seemed to be prostitutes coming from the nearby brothel at Carrer d'Avinyo around Barcelona.

Through the whole canvas, the women and the drapery are fractured and disintegrated. Here is Picassos response to Cezanne and Matisse. The women are neither before nor behind.

A great part of the critical debate that has ensued throughout the years focuses on trying to record for this numerous styles of art inside the painting.

Conclusion

Cubism laid the foundation for geometric abstract art by establishing an exclusively new emphasis on the unity between the portrayed scene in a painting, and the surface of the canvas. Its alterations would be adopted by the likes of Piet Mondrian, who continued to explore its use especially the grid, its abstract system of signs, and its flat space. Cubism was considered a highly influential style of visual art in the 20th century, Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque are the two artists that created this form of art in Paris between the years 1907 and 1914.

The Cubist style accentuates flat and two-dimensional images on the surface of the picture in a broken technique that contradicts long time recognized doctrines of art as the reflection of nature. Typical cubist painters frequently show letters, musical instruments, bottles, pitchers, glasses, newspapers, still lifes, and the human face and figure. Support this reason with evidence based on contextual information and or information that describes how formal elements do this

Reference

Stokstad, Marilyn. Art: A Brief History: Third Edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc., 2008. 318, 325, 328, 329-30, 349-354, 835-833, 1005-1006. Print.

Gloria K. Fiero - New York - McGraw-Hill Humanities, Social Sciences & World Languages - 2001 - 4th Ed. - Vol. 1

Patrick Frank - Prebles' Art Forms - NY,NY - Pearson - 2002 - 9th EBatterberry, Michael. Twentieth Edition

Gardner's Art through the Ages: A Global History, Vol. 1, 14th EditionCentury Art. McGraw, 1970.

Gerhardus, Maly and Gerhardus, Dietfried. Cubism and Futurism. Dutton, 1979.

Palau i Fabre, Josep. Picasso: The Early Years, 1881-1907. Rizzoli, 1981.

Selz, Peter. Art in Our Times: A Pictorial History 1890-1980. Abrams, 1981.