Cubism: Definition, History, Characteristics, Types, Characters

Cubism: Definition, History, Characteristics, Types, Characters and Examples of His Work –What is meant by cubism? On this occasion About Knowledge.co.id will discuss it and of course other things that also surround it. Let's take a look at the discussion in the article below to better understand it.

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Cubism: Definition, History, Characteristics, Types, Characters and Examples of His Work

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Cubism is a flow of art that contains several points of view of an object or figure in the same image, resulting in a fragmented and deformed painting. This flow also seems to break the image through simplification of objects to resemble geometric shapes. A portrait painting can consist of a side angle and a front angle simultaneously so as to produce an artistic clumsiness.

Cubism is a school of art that starts from the simplification of natural forms geometrically. Cubism draws nature into geometric shapes such as triangles, rectangular cones, circles, cylinders, and cubes.

Painters who embrace cubism include Pablo Picasso, a Spanish painter who produced works entitled: "Guernicca" and "Leas The Moiseller d'Avignon". Other cubist painters were George Braque, Metzinge, Albert Glazes, Robert Delauney, Francis Picabia, and Juan Gris.

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History of Cubism

Cubism began around 1907 when Picasso began to use this style in his work entitled "Demoiselles D'Avignon". This work is referred to as a prototype or pre-Cubist work. In this work, various characteristics of cubism have been seen, such as the radical distortion of the nose, the fragmented background and the oddly positioned eyes that give artistic expression.

Georges Braque who saw the painting in Picasso's studio was interested and responded to Picasso's style by exploring similar styles.
Examples of Cubism: Demoiselles D'vignon, by Pablo Picasso.

Then why is this school itself called Cubism? The name Cubism derives from a comment made by the critic Louis Vauxcelles when he saw some of Georges Braque's paintings on display in Paris in 1908. He describes Braque's paintings simplifying objects into geometric shapes so that they appear cubes; cube (cubist). That term was spread when this stream was getting more and more public attention.

Cubism can be said to be influenced and inspired by the works of Paul Cezanne, until one of its early phases was called Cezzanian Cubism. Cezanne's work has lost sight of accurate perspective. So that the work he paints does not have a consistent perspective, some objects look odd because there is no clear perspective. But that is one of the things that makes it look more interesting compared to the classics which at that time were considered too flat.

Pablo Picasso was also inspired by masks from African tribes. The style used to make these masks is very unnatural/realistic, full of distortion but still presents a vivid human image. Picasso once said: 'The face consists of eyes, nose and mouth which can be distributed in any way you wish'. This means that we can draw the mouth above the nose and the eyes under the nose, if we wish. That is one of the Cubist views that is important to underline.

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Characteristics of Cubism

The following are the most striking characteristics of Cubism, including:

• Based on how to draw it, the original object is converted into a combination of fields such as triangles, squares, rectangles, circles and others.
• The objects drawn are usually pictures of humans and animals, objects, and natural or building backgrounds.
• Using geometric shapes
• Has a very perspective color combination

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Cubism Type

Cubism evolved in two distinct phases. The first phase is Analytic Cubism, and the next phase is Synthetic Cubism. But this stage of Cubism is still debated and continues to be updated to this day.

Some other expert opinions say that Cubism has three or even four phases. One phase before Analytics, and another after Synthesis. The types of Cubism are:

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  Cezannian Cubism / Cezannian Cubism (1908 – 1909)

This was the early phase of Cubism, which was still largely inspired by the works of Cezanne. The retrospective view of Cezanne inspired many artists to take the positive side of his work. One of them is the freedom of perspective that can make the work more dynamic and not only imitating nature.

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  Analytical Cubism / Analytics Cubism (1910 – 1912)

Called analytic because in this phase Cubism developed in a very systematic way. The work is based on observing objects in the context of their background and exploring various points of view. Picasso and Braque limited their subjects to the traditional portrait and still life genres. They also limit their palette to earth tones and muted grays to reduce clarity between the shapes of figures and fragmented objects.

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  Synthesis Cubism (c.1912 – c.1914)

In 1912 Picasso and Braque began to introduce foreign elements into their compositions. Picasso added a wicker-like wallpaper to his work entitled: Still Life with Chair-Caning (1912). Braque glued newspaper clippings to his canvas, beginning his exploration of collage motion. In essence, this phase is called Synthesis because they begin to arrange and combine non-painted objects in the painting.

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  Crystal Cubism (1915 – 1922)

Crystal cubism is a simplified form of the earlier phases. In this phase, cubism emphasized on juxtaposed flat geometric planes. Here cubism becomes closer to formalistic abstraction, because geometric non-representative forms control almost all elements of the artwork.

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Figures and Examples of Cubism

Cubism paintings by Picasso & Braque fall into two categories; analytical cubism & synthetic cubism. Analytical Cubism was created until 1912, which became early Cubism. The next cubism called Synthetic Cubism was created until 1915.

In 1910, Picasso's painting entitled "Portrait of Ambroise Vollard" showed a more flat & consistent coloring, but also ambiguous. As in his work, the human figure is made using transparent geometric shapes, the figure is drawn into several parts.

The field of painting infiltrates from various points of view. His work does not show the impression of a 3D (three-dimensional) illusion, such as the volume on a cube. The basis of analytical cubism is the fragmentation and intersection of planes.

Meanwhile, synthetic Cubism tends to be more varied, diverse. In addition, synthetic cubism paintings are combined from various styles, various visual languages ​​in one unit. Braque's painting “Clarinet”, for example, incorporates representational images using abstract shapes. Some of the shapes look flat, simple, and sometimes seem three-dimensional.

That's the review from About Knowledge.co.id about Cubism, Hopefully it can add to your insight and knowledge. Thank you for visiting and don't forget to read other articles.