Cubism

Early 20th Century

• Three styles compete to define the future of "modern" art
  • Cubism
  • Expressionism
  • Surrealism
• Abstract vs. nonrepresentational
  • Nonrepresentational - art without depicting objects from nature
    • Shape, color, form, but no desire to represent or depict recognizable object
    • Emerging trend in early 20th century art
  • Abstract - to remove from or to consider in another form
    • All art is by definition, abstract
    • Degrees of abstraction

Cubism in Art

• The Cubist's "perspective" emerges
  • Sharp angular forms
  • Geometric and fragmented
  • The three step process
    • Reduce the world to geometric shapes
    • Break it apart
    • Reassemble…at will
• Artists
  • Picasso
    • The movement's founder
    • Classicism meets Cubism in the rejection of the Romantic aesthetic
    • Primitive aspects emerge in the style Cubism
    • Les Demoiselles d'Avignon
    • Three Musicians
  • Leger
    • Contrasted to Picasso - modeling vs. flat color
    • Was a member of the "Futurists" as seen in his use of robots, machines, etc
    • The City
  • Lipchitz
    • Cubism in fully-round sculpture
    • Angled surfaces reflect plays of light similar to the paintings modeled forms
    • Man With Mandolin
  • Mondrian
    • Not strictly a Cubist, but a similar sensibility focusing on angular geometric shapes
    • Balance through "unequal but equivalent portions"
    • Exclusive use of primary colors
    • New York City
    • Victory Boogie Woogie
    • Composition in Red, Yellow and Blue

Musical Equivalent

• Polytonality - musical "multiple perspective"
  • Tonality - music organized around one note (the musical key)
    • Tonality was the foundation to music and is similar to the traditional use of perspective in art
    • Art perspective = vanishing point
    • Music tonality = tonal center (key)
  • Polytonality
    • Music built on multiple tonal centers (keys)
    • Composers use 2 or more keys at the same time
• Charles Ives
  • American composer noted for musical experimentation and use of polytonality
  • Symphony - New England Holidays

More extensive and full-sized art works may be seen in the Gallery

Humanities Resource of Mark Hunter