Cubism

Student Name: Sinéad Nestor
Student ID No: 09000898
Certificate in the History of Art and Design, University of Limerick.
Academic Year: 2010/2011.
“Describe in detail the main characteristics of Cubism through the works of two artists.”
Word Count: 2,897 words

Sinéad Nestor
This essay seeks to describe the Cubist movement’s main characteristics in detail, using the work of two artists to illustrate. The chosen artists are Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973), and Georges Braque (1882 – 1963), a Spanish and French artist respectively.1 Golding explains that the seminal Cubist painters felt that traditional painting techniques were exhausted entirely at the end of the nineteenth century, and that a new visual vocabulary was required to treat formal painting elements – ‘form, space, colour, and technique’ with fresh eyes.2 The Cubist movement is contemporarily regarded as twentieth-century classicism, and is so influential that it changed how art is viewed, perceived and created ever since.3 This essay hopes to provide a detailed description of
Cubism. It will focus on the Cubist paintings of both artists, mapping the movement from 1907 – 1914. During this time, Cubism morphed from its seminal beginnings to its actualisation as a highly developed, classical art movement.
Late nineteenth and early twentieth-century art movements such as Fauvism and
Expressionism used colour to express their ideas.4 These works, with all of their brilliance and catharsis, used visceral, expressionistic palettes. Colour was a primary concern, to the subordination of other elements, such as form.5 Cubism was practically the antithesis of these concerns, as it prized form above all other artistic elements.

1
2
3
4
5

Rosenblum, Robert, Cubism and Twentieth-Century Art (New York, 1976), p.14.
Golding, John, Cubism – A History and an Analysis, 1907 – 1914 (London, 1968), p.17.
Ruhrberg, Karl, Art of the 20th Century, Volume 1 – Painting (Cologne, 2005), p.67.

Bibliography: Cox, Neil, Cubism, (London, 2000). Gantefuhrer-Trier, Anne, Cubism, (Cologne, 2006). Golding, John, Cubism – A History and an Analysis, 1907 – 1914, (London, 1968). Penrose, Roland, Picasso, (London, 1991). Rosenblum, Robert, Cubism and Twentieth-Century Art, (New York, 1976). Ruhrberg, Karl, Art of the 20th Century, Volume 1 – Painting, (Cologne, 2005). Stevenson, Angus (Editor), Oxford Dictionary of English, (Oxford, 2010). Illustration Sources Illustration One: Pablo Picasso, ‘Les Demoiselles d’Avignon’ (1907, Oil on Canvas, 243.9cm x 233.7cm), from Gantefuhrer-Trier, Anne, Cubism, (Cologne, 2006), p.27. Illustration Two: Georges Braque, ‘Large Nude’ (1908, Oil on Canvas, 140cm x 100cm) from Ibid, p.31. Illustration Three: Pablo Picasso, ‘Reservoir at Horta, Horta de Ebro’ (1909, Oil on Canvas, 60 x 50cm) from Ibid, p.39. Illustration Four: Georges Braque, ‘Castle at La Roche-Guyon’ (1909, Oil on Canvas, 81 x 60cm) from Ibid, p.37. Illustration Five: Georges Braque, ‘Woman with a Mandolin’ (1910, Oil on Canvas, 92cm x 73cm) from Ibid, p.49. Illustration Six: Pablo Picasso, ‘Girl with a Mandolin (Fanny Tellier)’ (1910, Oil on Canvas, 100.3cm x 73.6cm) from Ibid, p.51. Illustration Seven: Pablo Picasso, ‘Pipe, Glass, Bottle of Vieux Marc’ (1914; Paper collage, Charcoal, India ink, Printer’s ink, Graphite, Gouache on Canvas) from Ibid, p.81. Illustration Eight: Georges Braque, ‘Pipe, Glass, Dice and Newspaper’ (1914, Charcoal and Pasted paper, 50cm x 60cm) from Ibid, p.83.