Cubism is one of the first modern movements in art. The movement evolved during the period of rapid and heroic innovations by artists such as Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso. The movement has two stages namely, analytic cubism and synthetic cubism. In analytic cubism, forms tend to be fragmented and analyzed. In synthetic cubism, foreign materials such as wood veneer and newspapers are collaged on the surface of the canvas as a “synthetic” symbol for the depicted objects. This style was developed by Juan Gris and Rernand Leger and it attracted so many adherents abroad and in Paris. The movement is indeed important in the 20th century and it has served to influence the modern art.
Influences on modern art
Analytical cubism contributed to the revolution of the traditional models of representation. It specifically contributed to the abolishment of the perspective that were used by artists to order space since time immemorial. It stopped the use of realistic modeling of figures and adopted a system of representation of bodies in space that used small and tilted plates placed in a shallow space.
Synthetic cubism as well has proved to be significantly influential to the modern artists and artwork. The style does not rely on the use of depicted forms and shapes to represent objects, it tends to use abstract signs and foreign objects. Cubism has paved way for geometric abstract art through emphasizing on the unity between the portrayed scene in the picture and canvas surface.
Works
One of the works of cubism done by Braque is Houses at l'Estaque (1908). The colors of this work have been subordinated so as to attain an overlapping geometric structure of tilted and shifting cubes that seem to project towards the inside and outside the plane of the picture. The artwork used by Braque makes the picture look like a 3-D movie.
Another work done by Braque is the “Violin and Palette” of 1909. Here the objects are recognizable, but they are presented in a new manner that is a bit radical. The violin seems to be shattered into pieces and bits and then it appears held so that all the fragments of the violin can be seen as they move around while still forming the main structure. Braque’s piece of art is able to portray consecutive, simultaneity and metamorphosis vision by concurrently making the violin to be intact, shattering it and twisting it in the wind.
Picasso in his work of analytical cubism, Portrait of Ambrose Vollard or 1910, his power as a caricaturist has been demonstrated by the presentation of the bald floating head. It emerged as a defining characteristic of many viewpoints that emanate from the muted monochromes of an angular maze.
