Exploring Cubism

After exploring the portraits, we were introduced to the abstract art movement of Cubism. To help me to understand this movement, I did some research into it. This helped me to understand and interpret the art more effectively.

Cubism began in Paris in the early 1900s and broke the tradition of painting by incorporating several different viewpoints into one art peice (The Worldwide Art Gallery, n.d.). It was said to the the first of the 'abstract' art and was founded by two famous artists, Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso. In painting, the cubists tried to create a new way of seeing things in art. Images were painted using shapes to represent the different viewpoint to represent the way the mind sees things, more so than the eye (The Worldwide Art Gallery, n.d.).

The Worldwide Art Gallery (n.d.) believes that the cubist artists were influenced the most by a post-impressionist artist named Paul Cezzane, who began the movement by looking at the basic shapes that represented nature.

Below is the painting called Mont Sainte-Victoire, by Cezzane (retrieved from creative commons) which was said to have started this movement.

In this painting, Cezzane uses blocks of unblended colours to create depth and distinction. He accompanies this with short, hard and regular lines.

The Art Gallery (n.d.) state that even today, Cezzane's paintings are considered as having an enormous impact on modern art. It can be said that his exploration with colour, tone and line have allowed other artists to paint what they saw, as a pose to their traditional representations.