Cubism was an early twentieth century movement in painting and sculpture, developed primarily by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque beginning around 1907, that broke represented objects into geometric facets and reassembled them to show multiple viewpoints at once rather than a single fixed perspective. It fractured the single viewpoint tradition that had governed Western painting since the Renaissance and opened the way toward abstraction across the rest of the twentieth century.
Facts
Founded In PlaceParis, France, developed jointly by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque from about 1907 to 1908 1 Key PrincipleObjects broken into geometric facets and reassembled to show multiple viewpoints at once, rejecting the single fixed perspective of prior Western painting 1 Disputed
End YearCubism had no single end date. Its analytic and synthetic phases gave way gradually through the 1910s and into the 1920s as its innovations were absorbed into later movements, so 1920 marks only the point historians most often cite for its decline as an organized movement. Connections
Associated With
Expressed In
Assemblage, Art Forms Picasso and Braque's Cubist constructions and papiers colles of 1912 to 1914 are assemblage's direct lineage.
Source Assemblage (Britannica)
Source Gardner's Art Through the AgesFred S. Kleiner (after Helen Gardner)
Influenced
Russian Constructivists drew directly on Cubist and Cubo-Futurist analysis of form when developing their own geometric abstraction.
Futurism, Movements Italian Futurist painters adopted Cubist fragmentation of form directly to convey motion and dynamism.
Influenced By
Cezannes late Post-Impressionist structuring of form into planes and facets is the most direct acknowledged root of Cubism.
Source Ukiyo-e (New World Encyclopedia)
Movement Members
Source Gardner's Art Through the AgesFred S. Kleiner (after Helen Gardner)
Source Gardner's Art Through the AgesFred S. Kleiner (after Helen Gardner)
Source Gardner's Art Through the AgesFred S. Kleiner (after Helen Gardner)
Duchamp's 1912 painting is classed with Cubism (also read as Cubo-Futurist).
Source Gardner's Art Through the AgesFred S. Kleiner (after Helen Gardner)
Picasso's Cubist sets and costumes brought Cubism to the stage in this 1917 Ballets Russes production.
Sources
1. Gardner's Art Through the Ages
Fred S. Kleiner (after Helen Gardner), Cengage Learning- chapter on Cubism
- Movement Members: Pablo Picasso, chapter on Cubism, section on Picasso
- Movement Members: Georges Braque, chapter on Cubism, section on Georges Braque
- Movement Members: Guernica, chapter on Cubism and its aftermath, section on Picasso, Guernica
- Movement Members: Houses at L'Estaque, chapter on Cubism, section on Georges Braque
Assemblage (Britannica)
Ukiyo-e (New World Encyclopedia)
New World EncyclopediaInfluenced By: Ukiyo-e, Western influence sectionQuote, Influenced By: Ukiyo-e, Western influence section
Ukiyo-e prints reached Europe in the mid-nineteenth century and enjoyed particular acclaim in France, becoming a source of inspiration for cubism and for many impressionist painters.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who invented Cubism?
Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque developed it together beginning around 1907. Cubism broke represented objects into geometric facets and reassembled them to show multiple viewpoints at once rather than a single fixed perspective, fracturing the single-viewpoint tradition that had governed Western painting since the Renaissance and opening the way toward abstraction across the rest of the twentieth century.
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