Deconstruction

Guiding Question

How do artists manipulate the real world to create

abstract art?

Cubism a Fractured Reality –Portrait with collage elements

In the unit …

YOU will1. Gain an understanding and awareness for the cubist

style of artists such as Picasso, Braque, and Gris.2. Create a composition showing multiple views of

various objects -- fracturing the planes in the manner of the cubists

3. Create a composition with a variety of textures - developing interest through contrast and possibly added collage elements.

Cubism

• Cubism was developed between about 1908 and 1912 in a collaboration between Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso. Their main influences are said to have been Tribal Art and the work of Paul Cezanne. The movementitself was not long-lived or widespread, but itbegan an immense creative explosion whichresonated through all of 20th century art.

PAUL CÉZANNE (1839-1906), Post-Impressionist artist'Bibemus Quarry', 1895 (oil on canvas)

The influence of Paul CezanneHow the houses and roads are being distorted with artist's concept of disregarding the physical laws of nature?

What major form or shapes are left in thepainting? Can we still identitify the

objects?

LEFT: Pablo Picasso, 'Head of a Woman‘1907 (oil on canvas)

RIGHT: Dan Mask from West Africa

The influenceof African Art

The Cubists believed that the traditions of Western art had become exhausted and another remedy they applied to revitalize their work was to draw on the expressive energy of art from other cultures, especially African art.

• Picasso• Les Demoiselles

d'Avignon• Oil on Canvas• 1912

• In the early 20th century, artists began to question the inner purpose and meaning of art while science was questioning the inner meaning of nature.

• The key concept underlying Cubism is that the essence of an object can only be captured by showing it from multiple points of view.

• Cubism had run its course by the end of World War I, but among the movements directly influenced by it were Futurism, Purism, Constructivism, and, to some degree, Expressionism.

Whatcharacteristics

can youfind in thispainting?

PicassoGirl with a Mandolin

Can you describe the elements of the work? What

are they?

Styles and TechniquesAnalytical cubism: Mapping Reality

• Analytical cubism occurred between 1910 to1912 and combines artistic savagery and the‘legacy of reducing reality to basic geometricalshapes that are clearly connected with oneanother.’

• It was used to break down the surface of objects being represented into basic, geometric shapes. Through this concept, a single image was formed from a multiplicity of small ‘perceptions grasped by the body in

Styles and Techniquesmovement.’

Styles and Techniques• Essentially, the term analytical cubism has

been coined because of its dissection of itssubject matter.

• By creating a geometric structure of overlapping, shifting and tilted cubes, a work is created that seems to project out of the picture plane. Instead of a single-point linear perspective, the scene changes when viewed from various positions.

Styles and Techniques• Other features of analytical cubism include a

simplified palette of colors (using earthtones mainly) and the density of the imageresiding at the center of the canvas.

• Overall, analytical cubism allowed the canvas to become a screen onto which images are projected, as it is transformed from a static record to a ‘dynamic vision akin to moving pictures.’

Views from different angels to create a dynamic vision (face).

Colors are subtle and not colorful to let audienceto focus on thebroken shapes

Portrait of PicassoJuan Gris

Oil on canvas, 1912

Lacks elements oflight, atmosphere,and space

Gave depth and richness to painting

OverlappingFragments

Reality of objects in space, reality of flat painted surface

What kind of still lifeobjects are there?How could these objects beviewed andrepresented inanother way?

Violin and Pitcher” Georges BraqueOil on canvas

1910

Man with guitarGeorge BraqueOil on canvas1911

• Example of how we perceive a guitar with multiple viewpoints through use of photography

• What techniques have they used to show the concept of Cubism?

•

••

What aboutthis one?

See how background and object planes intersect one another to create the shallow ambiguous space, one of cubism's distinct characteristics

• What aboutthis one?

• How does overlapping and shifting picture planes allow them to work with each other?

Styles and Techniques

Synthetic cubism: Vision of Modern Urban Life’

• It occurred between 1912 to 1914 and was assembled out of separate parts of new forms. This phase integrated elements of collage to recreate how ‘modern urban street life appears to the onlooker.’ This involved the introduction of different textures, surfaces and merged subject matter including newspapers, text, posters and music scores.

Techniques

• Synthetic cubism placed an emphasis on multiple layers and shapes, creating compositions that were simpler, brighter and bolder then analytical cubism, with less shading to create flatter space and fewer plane shifts. This was achieved by bringingtogether familiar ‘scraps’ and unfamiliar forms, to produce a sense of urban life and allowing‘low art’ to become ‘high art.’

• How did Picasso create interest through value contrast, various texturesand collage elements?

• How did Picasso usecolors to create avariety of light &shadows?

Pablo PicassoStill life with Chair Caning

• What collage elements have been used in this synthetic style cubist painting?

• What collage elements have been used in this synthetic style cubist painting?

• Newspaper, magazines and labels were used in this work

Pablo PicassoGlass and Bottle ofSuzeCollage1913

1914

Georges BraqueStill Life on a Table with 'Gillette’

1914

Collage on canvas

1921

Pablo PicassoThree Musicians

Wider use of color

Appealing andeasy to interpret

Less intricate

Added substances like sand to paint to make it appear thicker

Overall Characteristics

• Reject that art should copy nature• Reject use of traditional techniques• Emphasize two-dimensionality (geometricity)• Reduce objects to geometric shapes and put

these within a shallow space• Multiple/contrasting viewpoints• Overlapping planes • Exploration of the fourth dimension

Cubism consisted of two stages

• Analytical- Very abstract; mostly made up of overlapping planes and geometrical figures

• Synthetic- tended to use new mediums, such as clips from newspaper on top of painted canvas; took away all three dimensional aspects left in Analytical Cubism

Analytic vs. Synthetic

• Based on intellectbut not emotional

• Monochromaticcolor palette

• Reduces object to basic geometric shapes

• Linear construction

• Less intricate• More color• More appealing• Collage• Objects less

recognizable• Less shading• Added substance

to paint (e.g.sand)

Conclusion

• Picasso, Gris, and Braque are the three mainCubists

• African art, Gauguin, and Cezanne are major influences

• Simplified objects cut down into geometric shapes and shown from different angles and planes

• Two major phases, analytic and synthetic.