Cubism: 'Let the picture imitate nothing'

As academic standards in art were shaken by impressionists, the tendency grew further and became more and more strong. The newly introduced distortion effect, presence of subjectivity and vague real-life forms pushed artists towards abstraction. Consistency in the quality of objects became questioned. A thirst for further experimentation arose amongst members of French art society.

'Still Life with Plaster Cast'

Paul Cezzane

1894

Cezzane's 'Still Life with Cupid' is an exemplar of post-impressionistic influence and a precursor ofCubism. The artists radically hits the composition and distorts the reality. It is easy to see the prevailing geometry in the manner, the forms look quite sharp and, somehow, deconstructed. The figure of cupid looks slightly bent to the side in relation to the fruits, placed within the same surface, and also in relation to the background. Cezzane tried to reach the object from different angles and combine that perspectives all in one. Although the painting shows real-life objects, the play with perspective and shapes makes bring some mystical vibe to it and lessens their realistic nature. A slight move towards abstraction is present.

The beginning of the 20-th century was marked by a new way of visual representation - Cubism. Pioneers of the movement - Pablo Picasso and George Braque - inspired by the 'violation' of art traditions, came up with even more groundbreaking approach - non-representative depiction of reality, moving away from copying nature and denial to follow anatomically correct portraying of human body. As Picasso described the method as "not a reality you can take in your hand. It's more like a perfume, in front of you, behind you, to the sides, the scent is everywhere but you don't quite know where it comes from."

'Les Desmoiselles d'Avignon' 
P .Picasso 

1907

The work considered to be a pre-Cubism period of Picasso. We see a radical switch towards geometrical quality of shapes, crushed perspective, distorted human features. The motive of the work was typical, however it's primitive, along with obvious post-colonial influence made it too provocative for the audience. It's remarkable that after investigating by George Braque, their collaboration with Picasso started.

The term 'Cubism' was given to the style by a French art critique and dictated by the visual features of painting. Undoubtedly, there is an element of geometry in it, but it was not a goal, rather a means of depiction. In contrast to flatness and colour-oriented manners of impressionists, cubists considered perspective (multiple perspective)and structure over colour palette. At one point, both Picasso and Braque limited their use of colours and focused merely on the composition of their works. 

The first wave of cubism was introduced as Analytic Cubism. The artists 'analyzed' the subjects and created it's deconstructed version. Thematically the works of the period were quite trivial: everyday objects, including musical instruments, food, bottles, etc.;also human faces and bodies. As it was mentioned, the colours were cut off significantly, so that the painting look monochromatic. Nevertheless, due to the precised work on perspective, an effect of deepness could be reached.

'Clarinet and Bottle of Rum on the Mantlepiece'
George Braque

1911

The first thought that comes to mind when looking at the work - there's almost nothing real in it. However, in a while some features of the objects come through. This manner of depiction - like we look at something through the pieces of broken mirror - was a giant step towards abstraction. The reality (we can still believe it is a depiction of real objects) is deconstructed be the overlapping of perspectives. The composition is pretty complex and intuitive. The colours used actually look like a variation of grey/blue palette. The painting looks like it consists of collage-like fragments which complicates the overall perception of the piece.  

The following work by Picasso represents the same postulates of Analytic Cubism.

'Ma Jolie'
Pablo Picasso

1911-1912

The artists progressed further in their experiments with dimension. That's when a new technique of papiers collés was applied by Picasso. Pieces of paper of different shapes ans textures (including newspapers) were added to the painted image in order to achieve the sense of dimension. They played with textures other then paper, like marble and wood, and created patter-like structures. Concerning motifs, still life was prevailing. The objects still seemed to be analyzed, but a wider selection of tools moved the artists away from struggling with multiple perspective. 

Pablo Picasso

'Guitar

1913

On the painting multiple media can be found. A selection of real-life elements are combined together into one whole picture. It is obviously a collage, with layer of newspaper clippings. There are also two types of patterns.One is an ornament and the other looks like a part of guitar fingerboard. The guitar can be 'reconstructed' from different parts on the painting. In his guitar series Picasso used such materials as music scores, sand, brand labels as he associated them with modern life. This attempt to fit the art within the reality.

The visual language created by Picasso and Braque was quite influential not only in painting, but in sculpting and architecture.  The style was inspiration for those who strive towards abstraction and liberal approach to art. It became a conceptual basis for development of Surrealism and Dadaism. 

Sources:

http://www.artble.com/imgs/1/0/7/29117/still_life_with_plaster_cast.jpg

http://www.artble.com/artists/paul_cezanne/paintings/still_life_with_plaster_cast

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4c/Les_Demoiselles_d'Avignon.jpg/1200px-Les_Demoiselles_d'Avignon.jpg

https://taliarossi.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/t02318_10.jpg

http://mesosyn.com/pp-sc-1.jpg