Cubism was an influential early 20th century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture. Developed by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque between 1907-1914 in Paris, Cubism featured geometric shapes and multiple perspectives to depict subjects from a multitude of angles. Cubist works were characterized by the fragmentation of forms, abstract color, and the fusion of subject matter. The movement had two phases - analytical cubism focused on geometric abstraction while synthetic cubism incorporated collage materials into paintings. Major cubist artists included Picasso, Braque, Juan Gris, Fernand Léger, Jean Metzinger, Albert Gleizes, Marcel Duchamp, and sculptors Alexander Archipenko and Raymond D

1. Cubism (1907-1914)
Krista Arrasmith, Sean Larson, Leah Schrauben

2.  This movement was created by Picasso
and Braque in Paris from 1907 to 1914
◦ Braque and Picasso were the major artists
throughout the majority of the Cubist
movement
◦ The term Cubism was first coined by Louis
Vauxcelles after seeing the landscapes Braque
painted at L’Estaque, in 1908, calling the
geometric figures in the paintings “cubes.”

3.  Influences on Cubism
◦ Primitivism and Non-Western Sources
◦ Oceanic and Iberian Sculpture
◦ African Art in the case of Picasso’s Les
Demoiselles d’Avignon
◦ Colonialism/Imperialism
◦ World War I
◦ Post-Impressionism: Cézanne
◦ Science-Bohr, Einstein

4. Les Demoiselles d’Avigon (Picasso, 1907)

5.  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 vantage points
◦ Overlapping planes (passage)
◦ Exploration of the fourth dimension
(simultaneity)

6.  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 paint
canvass; took away all three dimensional
aspects left from Analytical

7. Analytical Cubism
(1907-1912)

8.  Style
◦ Mostly landscapes, few figures (simple
subjects)
◦ Noticeable lack of color
◦ Earth tones
◦ Colors or tones with neutral associations

9. Portrait of Ambrose Vollard (Picasso,1910)

10. Portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler (Picasso,1910)

11. Ma Jolie (Picasso, 1910)

12. The Portugese (man) (Braque,1911)

13. Synthetic Cubism
(1912-1914)

14.  Style
◦ Vibrant colors
◦ Collage created
◦ Different materials than just canvas
◦ Referred to as blunt and straightforward
◦ Considered “easy to read”

15. Guitar (Picasso, 1913)

16. The Card-Player (Picasso,1913-1914)

17. Fruit and Jug on a Table (Metzinger, 1916) (Cubist
version of Cezanne’s piece)

18. The Smoker (Gris, 1913)

19. Stairway (Léger, 1914)

20. Harlequin (Picasso, 1915)

21. Major Cubist Artists

22.  Pablo Picasso
◦ Style
 Brighter Colors
 Less Abstracted
 Many Paintings are Still-Lifes or Self-Portraits
◦ Famous Cubist Works
 Self Portrait (1907)
 Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907)
 Dryad (1908)
 Bread and Fruit Dish on a Table (1909)
 Portrait of Ambroise Vollard (1910)
 Guitar (1913)
 Three Musicians (1921)

23. Self Portrait (1907)

24. Bread and Fruit Dish on a Table (1909)

25.  Georges Braque
◦ Style
 Not Very Abstracted
 Mostly Earthy Colors (Browns, Greens, Blacks)
 Many Paintings are Landscapes
◦ Famous Cubist Works
 El Viaducto de L’Estaque (1907)
 Viaduct at L’Estaque (1908)
 Paisaje de L’Estaque (1908)
 Gran Desnudo (1908)
 Castle at La Roche-Guyon (1909)
 El Parque de Carrières Saint-Denis (1909)
 Harbor in Normandy (1909)

26.  Braque (cont.)
◦ Famous Cubist Works (cont.)
 Le Sacré-Couer (1910)
 El Violín (1911)
 The Portugese (Man) (1911-1912)
 The Musician’s Table (1913)
 Still-Life: Le Jour (1929)

27. El Viaducto de L’Estaque (1907)

28. Castle at La Roche-Guyon (1909)

29. The Musican’s Table (1913)

30.  Jean Metzinger
◦ Style
 Darker Colors (Darker Blues, Greens, and
Browns)
 Many paintings of scenes of life invovling humans
 Not Very Abstracted
◦ Famous Cubist Works
 At the Cycle-Race Track (1912)
 Dancer in a Café (1912)
 The Smoker (1914)
 Fruit and Jug on a Table (1916)
 Naturaleza Muerta (1919)
 Still-Life: Playing Cards, Coffee Cup, and Apples

31. At the Cycle-Race Track (1912)

32. Dancer in the Café (1912)

33. Still-Life: Playing Cards, Coffee Cup, and Apples

34.  Fernand Léger
◦ Style
 Brighter Colors
 More Rounded Geometric Shapes
 Highly Abstracted
 Most Paintings of People Doing Different Tasks
◦ Famous Cubist Works
 Desnudos en el Bosque (1909)
 Smoke (1912)
 Woman in Blue (1912)
 Contrast of Forms (1913)
 El Despertador (1914)
 Segundo Estado (1914)

35. Smoke (1912)

36. Contrast of Forms (1913)

37. El Despertador (1914)

38.  Juan Gris
◦ Style
 More Earthy Colors (Greens, Browns, Blues)
 Highly Abstracted
 Mostly of Still-Life
◦ Famous Cubist Works
 Beer Glass and Cards (1913)
 Flowers (1914)
 Breakfast (1914)
 A Pot of Geraniums (1915)

39. Beer Glass and Cards (1913)

40. Flowers (1914)

41. A Pot of Geraniums (1915)

42.  Roger de La Fresnaye
◦ Style
 Brighter Colors (Yellows, Whites, Blues)
 Not Very Abstracted
 Most Paintings of Humans
◦ Famous Cubist Works
 Village at the Water’s Edge (1910) (has definite
similarites to Impressionism)
 Artillery (1911)
 The Conquest of the Air (1913)
 Sitzendy Man (1914)
 Smoking in the Shelter (1918)

43. Village at the Water’s Edge (1910)

44. Artillery (1911)

45. The Conquest of the Air (1913)

46.  Marcel Duchamp
◦ Style
 Earthy Colors (Browns, Blacks)
 Highly Abstracted
 Many Pieces Try to Capture Movement of Nudes
◦ Famous Cubist Works
 Apropos of Little Sister (1911)
 Nude, Sad Young Man on a Train (1911)
 Nude descending a Staircase, No. 2 (1912)
 The Passage From Virgin to Bride (1912)
 The King and Queen Surrounded by Swift Nudes
(1912)
 Die Verheiratete Frau (1912)

47. Nude, Sad Young Man on a Train (1911)

48. Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 (1912)

49. The Passage From Virgin to Bride (1912)

50.  Albert Gleizes
◦ Style
 Mix of Earthy Colors and Vibrant Colors
 Many Pieces are Landscapes
 Highly Abstracted
◦ Famous Cubist Works
 Catedral (1912)
 Puerto Comercial (1912)
 Cabeza Masculina (1913)
 Paisaje (1914)
 Nueva York (1916)

51. Catedral (1912)

52. Paisaje (1914)

53. Nueva York (1916)

54. Cubist Sculpture

55.  Alexander Archipenko
◦ Style
 Mostly dark colors (Blacks)
 Not very abstracted
 Mostly contorted or misshapen human bodies
◦ Famous Cubist Works
 Seated Female Nude (1909)
 The Draped Woman (1911)
 Reclining Nude (1912)
 Die Sitzende (1912)
 Carrousel Pierrot (1913)
 The Gondolier (1914)
 The Boxers (1914)
 Walking (1914)

56.  Archipenko (cont.)
◦ Famous Cubist Works (cont.)
 Female Torso (1914)
 Woman Combing Her Hair (1915)
 Walking Soilders (1917)

57. The Draped Woman (1911)

58. The Gondolier (1914)

59. The Boxers (1914)

60.  Raymond Duchamp-Villon
◦ Style
 Mostly Darker Colors (Blacks)
 Very Abstracted
 Mostly of Parts of Humans or Animals
◦ Famous Cubist Works
 Torso of a Young Man (1910)
 The Lovers (1913)
 The Horse (1914)
 Portrait of Professor Gosset (1917)

61. The Lovers (1913)

62. The Horse (1914)

63. Portrait of Professor Gosset (1917)

64.  Jacques Lipchitz
◦ Style
 Use Bland Colors (Whites, Metallics)
 Highly Abstracted
 Mostly of Humans
◦ Famous Cubist Works
 Man With a Guitar (1915)
 The Bather (1925)

65. Man With a Guitar (1915)

66. The Bather (1925)

67. Off-branches of Cubism

68.  Kinetic Cubism/Cubo-Futurism
◦ Developed in Russia around 1910
◦ Based off of Synthetic Cubism/ reinterpretation
of French Cubism and Italian Futurism
◦ More emphasis on movement and action
◦ Bold colors and lines
◦ Fragmentation of objects on canvas surface
◦ Key artists:
 Malevich
 Popova
 Goncharova

69.  Orphism/Orphic Cubism (1910)
◦ Roots in Analytical Cubism but uses bright
circles
◦ Delaunays pioneered this technique (Prisma
Electrico, Rythme Couleur, ect.)

70.  All pics from abcgallery.com and all-
art.org