Cubism: Influences on Cubism, Characteristics of Analytical Cubism and Flat Pattern Cubism and
...influence in Picasso’s work. Picasso transformed the female form into strong, stylised form. He was interested in the powerful imagery of primitive art, as well as the form of the pieces and this can be clearly seen in his post-Cubist Surrealist wakes. Picasso is a well-noted Cubist; one of his best-known works of art being ‘Les Demoiselles d’Avignon’. The influence of primitive art and of Cézanne can be seen in this piece. Many important characteristics of Cubism are indicated in it; most notably, the way in which the image is woven together from figures and their surroundings to form a continuous, if somewhat bumpy, patchwork. The obvious twisting and dislocating of the figures allows the observer to view more of each figure than would otherwise be possible from just one position. This is most evident in the seated figure on the right, whose left leg and thigh have been spread out, and displaced, to the left so that Picasso can bring round and introduce, into the gap, part of her stomach. Also, although her body is seen from behind her face is twisted to look forward. In addition her eyes are looking forward, her mouth is turned towards the left yet her nose is seen as if in profile from the right thus giving the observer three different views. ‘Les Demoiselles d’Avignon’ was inspired when Picasso visited a brothel. When this piece was exhibited, it caused a great deal of controversy due to the subject matter, but the methods that he used in the creative process will ensure it remains one of the most influential paintings of the 20th century. Chapter 2: Characteristics of Analytical Cubism The process of fragmenting reality, referred to as ‘analysis’, was developed by Picasso and Braque during the winter of 1909-1910 and achieved an early climax in Cubist masterpieces such as Picasso’s ‘Seated Female Nude’. In this Cubist painting Picasso seems to have begun by first imagining the subject as having a geometric, faceted form. This way of seeing the subject is an extension and exaggeration of Cézanne’s way of building up form in clear-cut segments of colour. This stage of geometric faceting can be clearly viewed in some earlier Cubist paintings such as Picasso’s ‘Nude Woman in an Armchair’. Further more, in his slightly later piece ‘Seated Female Nude’ the figure has been fragmented along the facets and put back together into a loosely overlapping structure with the gaps in between. These segments in Cubist paintings are usually referred to as planes since they have a flat appearance. The way in which this method of fragmentation developed marks the full maturity of the primary phase of Cubism. With this development, Braque and Picasso surpassed Cézanne to create a fundamental and unique way of managing reality in their paintings. This method was summarised by Picasso in an announcement about Cubism: ‘A head is a matter of eyes, nose, mouth which can be distributed in any way you like – the head remains a head.’ However by the autumn of 1910, Braque and Picasso were beginning to find that their works of art were becoming increasingly abstract due to the fragmentation of the images. They wanted to keep a sense of reality and to rectify their problem Braque and Picasso intensively explored their invention for two years, each of them producing a barrage of Cubist masterpieces. Picasso’s ‘Portrait of a Woman’ is an example of the growing tendency to make the paintings more and more abstract. They combated this recurring tendency in various ways; by drawing certain details more simplified; in the introduction of words to label or identify objects; and, used by Braque, the creation of wood grain effects. Thus was the development of ‘analytical’ Cubism into ‘high’ Cubism. The first two of the three devices Braque and Picasso used to combat having too great a feeling of abstract can clearly be seen in Braque’s ‘The Candlestick’, painted in the spring of 1911, where the candlestick itself is clearly visible and enough of the word L’Independent is included to enable the viewer to identify the newspaper of the name. Braque also includes the price of the newspaper. The third combatant device can clearly be seen in Braque’s ‘Homage to J S Bach’ painted inn the summer of 1912. From his early training as a decorator, Braque was familiar with the use of imitation wood grain effects to represent wooden surfaces. This effect was most commonly used to represent tabletops and musical instruments, such as guitars or violins. It is most obvious in the bottom left corner of the painting. Also particularly notable in this painting was the way Braque’s use of lettering, which floated free, evoked the influential presence of Bach and his music. From 1911 onwards Braque gave a heightened reality to sections of certain paintings by adding sand to the paint: this was the first inkling of ‘collage’. After spending the summer with Picasso at Sorgues, near Avignon, Braque noticed in a shop window a roll of wallpaper printed with a pattern ...