Cubism

◍ Open on the globe

c. 1907 – 1920 · Europe · painting, sculpture, architecture · origin: Paris, Montmartre (Bateau-Lavoir)

Objects broken into facets and shown from several viewpoints at once on the flat canvas

How to recognise it

• objects shattered into angular facets
• several viewpoints combined in one image
• muted palette of ochre, grey and brown
• letters, newsprint and wallpaper pasted in
• guitars, bottles, pipes and papers in still lifes

Why it emerged

Picasso and Braque pushed further the lessons of late Cézanne and the African sculpture seen in Paris museums. With photography and film owning illusion, painting could abandon single-point perspective.

Examples

Les Demoiselles d'Avignon1907 · Pablo PicassoBroke with perspective and swapped faces for masks: the starting point of CubismHouses at L'Estaque1908 · Georges BraqueCritic Vauxcelles saw 'little cubes' in it, giving Cubism its namePortrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler1910 · Pablo PicassoAnalytic Cubism: the dealer's face read from a few clues amid shifting facetsStill Life with Chair Caning1912 · Pablo PicassoThe first collage in painting: printed oilcloth chair-caning framed with ropeHouse of the Black Madonna1911–1912 · Josef GočárCubism built in stone: faceted cornices and windows, a uniquely Czech contribution

How it spread

• 1907 Paris
• 1911 Prague
• 1912 Moscow
• 1913 New York
• 1914 London

Meanwhile elsewhere

• Ming and Qing Porcelain Asia
• Peredvizhniki (The Wanderers) Eastern Europe & Russia
• Art Nouveau Europe
• Expressionism Europe
• Russian avant-garde Eastern Europe & Russia
• Harlem Renaissance Americas
• Modern architecture (International Style) Whole world
• Constructivism Eastern Europe & Russia
• Art Deco Europe
• Mexican muralism Americas

Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English)

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