Cubism

Essay by mwindy June 2005

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Cubism is a movement that ran for about 7 years from 1907-1914. Unlike previous European styles which used a single view point Cubists uses multiple viewpoints this allows the eyes to depict several different aspects of an object in the same picture, which gave the paintings a sense of depth and allowed a 2 dimensional picture look 3 dimensional and appeared as if the painting was extending beyond the canvas.

Cubism was first thought to be started by Pablo Picasso until later discovered that it was in fact it was a joint effort with Georges Braque then after further research historians discovered that it was in fact Georges Braque who had the most influence. By 1909 Picasso and Braque were very close friends. They worked together until 1914 when Braque went off to war. During this time together, Picasso described they're friendship as a marriage, and Braque later said "we were like to mountain climbers roped together", because of they're closeness it became very hard to tell the difference between they're work.

When Braque's L'Estaque paintings were submitted to the selection jury of 1908 Salon d'Automne, Henri Matisse dismissed them saying they were nothing but petite cubes meaning small cubes. The paintings were rejected by the jury and instead were shown in a large solo exhibition at the Kahnweiler Gallery in Paris. Soon after cubism became the official and lasting name of the movement.

Braque introduced the use of stencilled lettering and also experimented with mixing sand and saw dust to his paint to create interesting textures. He then introduced the effect of wood graining. In 1912 Picasso then progressed by producing the first cubist collage "Still Life with Chair Caning" when he incorporated a piece of oil cloth machine printed with a caning like pattern. The work was then...