Cubist Movement

Cubist Movement

Pablo Picasso’s Les femmes d’Alger version ‘N’ of 1955. The painting was done in post world war II. The painting is the second last in a series of 15 paintings. The les femme d’Alger is an imitation of the original work by a nineteenth-century French painter Eugene Delacroix of 1834 to 1848. Delacroix’s painting fit the traditional European painting techniques; it showed three nude and partially nude women smoking, sleeping and reclining while a female servant in the background is seen carrying a teapot. Picasso’s re-creation of this work is quite unexpected as he uses the cubist style. He recreates the scenes using geometry shapes that are flattened and angular in discontinuous space. The painting in my perception was created in cubism to pass a message of distortion of the normalcy of the lives of the women within their apartment.

The time of the creation of this painting is significant. The original painting created a seductive and enticing feeling to the viewer as well as portrayed passive femininity. Picasso’s painting was done during the eight-year war in Algeria between them and the French colonial power for self-rule. The original painting was created at a time when things were considered to be peaceful and at their best. Picasso’s creation did not have the imaged sexual appeal of the original painting. Rather the use of the cubist technique showed that though the appeal was still present things had changed, and the women in angular forms and spaces are now seeking more into their lives a sense of self that is crucial to them. The women in Picasso’s creation can be drawn to depict Algeria’s fight for self-rule, and the attractiveness and beauty of the country are still embedded in it though not directly visual as it were in Delacroix’s painting. Delacroix’s painting is done at the beginning of the French colonial era in Algeria, which was considered to be a good thing in the French colony and also within France. Picasso’s painting is at the end of the era and depicts the impact and reason for the French colonial era in Algeria.

Though Picasso and Braque displayed their earlier works in private galleries and salons, Parisians become aware of the movement through the artworks of the famous Puteaux group. The Puteaux group’s name was derived from the region where most of the artists worked. The artists’ canvases were well known to have titillated and shocked visitors to the 1911 exhibitions of the Salon des Independants and annual exhibitions that featured progressive art that was excluded from the traditional academic shows [1]. The exhibitions brought about widespread criticism. To offer defense for the cubist movement and their works, Metzinger and Gleizes used a book that linked the cubist arts to modern philosophy, mathematics, and science.

One of the most influential styles of the twentieth century is cubism. Cubism is believed to have been initiated around 1907 by Picasso’s and Braque. Picasso’s   Demoiselles D’Avignon painting. The painting was done using major elements of the cubist style. After seeing some works by Georges Braque at a Paris exhibition in 1908, the art critic Louis Vauxcelles came up with the term cubism to describe the paintings[2]He described the painting style to have reduced everything to cubes; geometric outlines. The cubist paintings were more engaging to a viewer as they needed more attention and concentration to understand. The paintings offered a different perspective to a view from the traditional one that previous artists had used. The cubist style also gave a different perspective to the ideologies behind the painting, as seen in the remakes of Picasso.

The cubism style opened up new possibilities for analyzing and treatment of visual reality in art. Cubism was the start of many abstract painting styles like neoplasticism and constructivism. The cubist technique involved breaking figures and objects down into separate planes. This aimed to show diverse viewpoints at the same time and within a similar space, thus the three-dimensional form of the cubist paintings. The two-dimensional flatness of the canvas was more emphasized using this technique rather than trying to create an illusion of depth. This did away with the dominant renaissance European tradition of creating the illusion of real space from an unchanging viewpoint using ruses such as the linear perspective[3].

Cubism was inspired by several things. First, the cubism style was, to some extent, influence by paul Cezanne’s late works, where his painting had a slightly different perspective from the traditional European paintings. Picasso was also greatly influenced to use the cubism techniques by the African tribal masks that greatly stylized. The masks were non-naturalized but still presented a rich human image. In Picasso’s words, ahead is a matter of mouth, eyes, and nose that can be distributed to the artist’s liking[4].

Cubism developed in two different phases, the initial phase was a more ascetic analytical cubism, and the second phase was commonly known as synthetic cubism. Analytical cubism started and dominated between the years of 1908 to 1912. The artworks are considered to be severe and are made up of intertwining of planes and lines. The planes and lines were hushed tones of ochres, blacks, and greys (cite). Georges Braque deserted the traditional bright Fauve pallet and perspective and adopted the simplified faceted forms, muted colors, and flattened three-dimensional planes. This technique adopted by Braque came to be known as analytical cubism. This form of cubism was theorized as the analysis and breaking down of shapes and space. The objects are still recognizable in the paintings though they are fractured into various shards as well as the surrounding space from which the objects emerge. The art composition is set in motion as one’s eyes start to move from one faceted plane to next, trying to differentiate forms and familiarize them with the shifting sources of light and angles.

On the other hand, synthetic cubism was dominant from 1912 to 1914 and is still to date. This form of cubism was depicted by the use of simpler shapes and brighter colors. Synthetic cubism was often dominated by the use of collaged real items like newspapers[5]. The use of real objects directly in art gave birth to ideas that are considered to be most crucial in modern art. Juan Gris Maisons, a Paris done in 1911, is a depiction of cubism. Gris moved to Paris in 1906 and happened to settle in the same building as Pablo Picasso. Gris experiments with the tricks he has learned from Picasso but still retains his responsiveness and color pallet. In this painting, he creates brutally flattened spaces and puts passages and shadows on an entirely different plane. He applied a modern technique to the urban landscape, just as Fernand leger was doing in his paintings[6].

The start of World war I stopped cubism in its tracks as an organized movement that had several artists such a Braque to Leger as they got called up to duty.some never fully recovered from the war to continue with painting but die. Picasso, in 1917 was able to return and practice cubism[7]. From this time, he added more realism to his paintings. This new addition was seen as his way of resisting being pinned down and the sudden death of cubism. Though the cubist movement never really regained its position in the organized art world, its influence continued in future movements such as constructivism, futurism among others. Cubism’s influence was also seen in other forms of art such as literature through James Joyce, in music through Igor Stravinsky as well as graphic and scenic designs[8].

Picasso’s Les femmes d’Alger version ‘N’ of 1955 is considered a synthetic cubist painting due to the techniques used. From the original inception of the cubist style, Picasso moves away from it and uses colorful pallets in his painting. The painting is bright and colorful. Here color has been used to create continuous spaces and also to separate space. Color change in this painting makes the view seek out a different angle and perspective of the painting.

Colour has also been used to differentiate objects, spaces, and also create borders where the artist needed to create borders. The use of the geometrical shapes in the painting and the flattening of surfaces still creates a continuous space in the painting, and the color is used to create separation where it is needed. Unlike the first cubist paintings, synthetic cubism also incorporates the use of circles, which is used in-depth creation. Circles have been used in the painting to create depth mostly on the human figures in the picture. Initially, analytic cubism only incorporated geometrical shapes, unlike synthetic cubism, that has a collage-style into it.

The space in Picasso’s painting is small and somehow compressed. The painting looks squeezed, unlike the original that was spacious. This use of space is also intentional. This is a way to show the discomfort of the Algerians under colonial rule and also slave ship. The white human figure lying down in the blue background at the front looks like two women cramped up in a little space, each trying to fit into the small space. The use of the small space can be an attempt by the artist to show that there is no room for both the French and the natives in Algeria thus the war between them.

The redo of Delacroix’s painting can be considered to have been instigated by two main reasons. First, according to Gilot, Picasso’s partner in painting, said that he was obsessed with the original painting and many times he visited the louver just to go and analyze the painting[9]He said that Delacroix was good and wanted to create his version of Les femmes d’Alger. In previous years, he did not have a good reason or motivation to make his version. When the war broke out, he found a good reason to create the painting as a way to show support for the Algerian struggle for independence. Picasso was intolerant of oppression and inhuman treatment of others. The timing, combined with his desire to create his version, would not allow him to postpone further the creation of Les femmes d’Alger.

Picasso was not a fan of exotism. He did not enjoy exotic arts and had no interest in Chinese, Japanese, and Persian arts that were mainly exotic. Les femmes d’Alger was not the first exotic painting that he re-made the demoiselles d’ Avignon was another exotic painting that he redid in cubism among other exotic paintings[10].

The use of cubism style in creating his versions of the exotic paintings might have been a technique to create a contrasting tone and idea to the original painting. Cubism did away with the fantasy that a painting had and gave it realism whereby the beauty of the original was still present but he gave the painting a deeper realist angle that was not present in the original mostly.

The cubist era brought about change in the art world, especially in Europe. The pioneers moved away from the conventional painting style used and tried to come up with a different way of doing things. They used geometry and flattened planes to change the normal presentation of objects and also changed the perception of the viewer. A viewer had to be more engaged and active when viewing the paintings to capture all the elements of a painting. Picasso and Braque were the avant-gardes of the cubist movement as they works were the first in this kind though it noted that Cezanne’s last work might have influenced them.

Soon after its inception and naming, the cubist movement gained momentum, and other artists began to join the movement. The Puteaux Group, Gris and Leger are some of the notable members of the cubist movement. The movement had two eras, and each was marked by different techniques of cubism. The analytical cubist era was marked by the use of geometry and dull hues, while the second era, synthetic cubism, was marked by the use of color pallets and even incorporation of real objects (cubist collage). After many of the artists answered their call to duty during world war I, the movement was no longer strong as it was as some of the artists never managed to return to their painting professions. Braque continued to create cubist paintings afterward, but the movement never picked up, and it later went ahead to influence other modern art movements.

Picasso’s version Les femmes d’Alger is done using the cubist style. This is just one among many of Picasso’s cubist arts. The painting can be considered to be a synthetic cubist painting. This is because of his choice of the color pallet, which is more colorful compared to analytical cubist paintings. His choice to use circles to create depth goes out of the conventional use of geometry shapes alone. His use of space also creates a crowed cubist technique in the painting. Picasso’s painting is a total contrast of the ideas presented in the original painting by Delacroix, and the cubist style brings about this contrast loudest. There would not be any other better technique used to create the contrast Picasso sought to create. The cubism movement was a strong one and made a major impact in the art scene though it was at the top for only a short while as it altered the long-held traditional painting style of the renaissance and afterward influenced several modern art movements.

Bibliography

Robinson, Shannon. 2016. Cubism: odysseys.

Cottington, David. 2007. Cubism. London: Tate Pub.

Picasso, Pablo, and Roland Penrose. 1978. Pablo Picasso. New York: Funk & Wagalls

[1] Robinson, Shannon. 2016. Cubism: odysseys

[2] Cottington, David. 2007. Cubism. London: Tate Pub.

[3] Cottington, David. 2007. Cubism. London: Tate Pub.

[4] Robinson, Shannon. 2016. Cubism: odysseys.

[5] Cottington, David. 2007. Cubism. London: Tate Pub.

[6] Robinson, Shannon. 2016. Cubism: odysseys.

[7] Robinson, Shannon. 2016. Cubism: odysseys.

[8] Cottington, David. 2007. Cubism. London: Tate Pub.

[9] Picasso, Pablo, and Roland Penrose. 1978. Pablo Picasso. New York: Funk & Wagalls

[10] Picasso, Pablo, and Roland Penrose. 1978. Pablo Picasso. New York: Funk & Wagalls