INTRODUCTION TO MODERN ART Lecture IV:

CUBISM and FUTURISM

• 1. Background

• 1. Primitivism

Picasso, Les Damoiselles d’Avignon, 1907

Paintings by Picasso 1907-1909

2. Formalism

Picasso landscape, 1909.

Paintings by Georges Braque, 1907-1909

3. Science, Technology and Modernization

4. Mass mediaThe means of communication to a large population — a mass of people. These generally include newspapers, magazines, radio, or television. mass culture - the popular culture that is widely disseminated via the mass media.

CUBISM

One of the most influential art movements (1907- c1920) of the twentieth century, Cubism was begun by Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1882-1973) and Georges Braque (French, 1882-1963) in 1907. They were greatly inspired by African sculpture, by painters Paul Cézanne (French, 1839-1906) and Georges Seurat (French, 1859-1891), and by Fauvism. In Cubism the subject matter is broken up, analyzed and reassembled in an abstracted form.

1. Analytic Cubism

Picasso, 1910

Picasso, 1911

Georges Braque, 1910

Georges Braque.1911

Braque, 1911

Braque, 1909-10

Braque, 1911

2. Synthetic Cubism

Picasso, 1912

Picasso, collage, 1912

Braque, 1912

Braque, 1912

Picasso, collage 1912collage – an artwork made by sticking various different materials such as photographs, magazine and newspaper clippings, ribbons, paint, bits of colored paper or fabric onto a flat surface.

Picasso, collage, 1913

Braque, collage, 1912

Georges Braque, 1912

Georges Braque, 1912

Braque, 1913

Braque, 1914

Juan Gris, Portrait of Picasso1912

Juan Gris, 1914

Gris, 1915

Gris, 1914

Fernand Leger, 1912

Leger, 1914

Leger, 1918

Robert Delaunay, 1912

Robert Delaunay

Sonia Delaunay, 1914

Picasso, 1925

Picasso, 1936

Braque, 1920’s

FUTURISM

Futurism or futurism – A movement originating among Italian artists in 1909, when the poet Filippo Marinetti's first manifesto of futurism appeared, and lasting into the 1920’s. It was a celebration of the machine age, glorifying war, and later supporting the growth of fascism. Futurist works were especially concerned with expressing movement and the dynamics of natural and man-made forms. Important artist include Giacomo Balla (Italian, 1871-1958), Carlo Carrà (Italian, 1881-1966), Umberto Boccioni (Italian, 1882-1916

Gino Severini, 1914

Severini, Armoured Train, 1915

Giacomo Balla, 1915

Balla, 1912

Balla, Speeding Car, 1913

Carlo Carra, The Funeral of the Anarchist Galli, 1911

Carlo Carra, Demonstration, 1913

Marinetti, Futurst Poem

Some keywords

deform – To distort, corrupt or change form. ‘In Cubism images appear to be deformed.’

distort, distortion – To change the way something looks. His portrait of X was very distorted, showed great distortion; to give a false or misleading account of; misrepresent.  form - In its widest sense means total structure; a unity of all the visible aspects of that structure and of the manner in which they are united to create distinctive character. The form of a work is that which enables us to perceive it. formal - Relating to the outward form or structure of a work; not to be confused with "ceremonial" or "stately," since formal elements can be quite informal in character.

ambiguity - A condition when something which can have to two or more possible meanings. Many works of art are characterized by a strong sense of ambiguity.

ambiguous – open to having two or more possible meanings. ‘It was difficult to clearly describe the work because of its ambiguous character.’

‘Anything new, anything worth doing, can’t be recognized.’Picasso

‘There is only one valuable thing in art: the thing you can’t recognized.’Georges Braque

‘The goal I proposed myself in making cubism? To paint and nothing more... with a method linked only to my thought... Neither the good nor the true; neither the useful nor the useless.’ Picasso

What can you see?

Braque, 1911

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QV9-l-rXOE Fernand Léger, Ballet Mechanique, Cubist film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9d2eXDMOhQ&list=PLEE10C719F698D607Futurist music