Suspect: Picasso
There is no question that Picasso’s art has had a most profound impact on the twentieth century. While Picasso suggests the value of unlearning the academic tradition, it is important to remember that he had mastered its techniques by a very early age.
The modernist poet Guillaume Apollinaire, a friend of Picasso's, wrote that "Picasso studies an object the way a surgeon dissects a corpse."
For example, at first glance, Picasso's Still-Life with Chair Caning of 1912 might seem a mish-mash of forms instead of clear picture. But we can understand the image—and other like it—by breaking down Cubist pictorial language into parts.
The modernist poet Guillaume Apollinaire, a friend of Picasso's, wrote that "Picasso studies an object the way a surgeon dissects a corpse."
For example, at first glance, Picasso's Still-Life with Chair Caning of 1912 might seem a mish-mash of forms instead of clear picture. But we can understand the image—and other like it—by breaking down Cubist pictorial language into parts.
Briefing: New Evidence
If Modern Art is all about newness, then why have so many artists been influenced by often primitive art from other cultures and eras?
France was a major colonial power in Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Palais du Trocadero, Paris's ethnographic museum, displayed many examples of African Art.
France was a major colonial power in Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Palais du Trocadero, Paris's ethnographic museum, displayed many examples of African Art.
Motive
Cubism was a method of representation that went beyond the conventional ways of conveying space. When the artists placed industrially-produced objects ("low" commercial culture) into the realm of fine art ("high" culture) they acted as artistic iconoclasts (icon=image/clast=destroyer).
FOR YOUR CASE FILES
Illustrate what the Cubist pictorial language is.
Do this by annotating an example to show how they have defined space.
Describe the three types of Cubism. Find examples of each.
How has Picasso appropriated features from other cultures in his work.
What impact did these other cultures have on the emergence of Modern Art such as Cubism?
Do this by annotating an example to show how they have defined space.
Describe the three types of Cubism. Find examples of each.
How has Picasso appropriated features from other cultures in his work.
What impact did these other cultures have on the emergence of Modern Art such as Cubism?