Cubism: the art movement

Published on : 01 April 20212 min reading time
Cubism was a revolutionary new approach to the representation of reality invented in the 20th century. Artists brought together different images in the same painting, which resulted in fragmented and abstract paintings. Without doubt being the first movement into the world of abstract art, Cubism is a source of inspiration for countless branches of abstract design.

History of Cubism

Cubism was one of the most influential styles of the 20th century. The name “cubism” comes from a critic’s comment on a painting exhibited in Paris in 1908, the painting was described as reducing everything to geometric contours and cubes. Analytical Cubism lasted from 1908 to 1912. Its works have a more severe appearance and consist of an interweaving of planes and lines in neutral tones of black, gray and ochre. Another aspect of Cubism is Synthetic Cubism, generally considered to be around 1912 to 1914, and characterized by simpler forms and more vivid colors. Synthetic Cubist works often include collaged real elements such as newspapers.

 The characteristic of cubism compared to other arts

Compared to other abstract designs, Cubism is inspired by reality. By breaking down objects and figures into distinct areas or planes, the artists aimed to show different points of view at the same time and in the same space, thus suggesting their three-dimensional form. In doing so, they also emphasized the two-dimensional flatness of the canvas instead of creating an illusion of depth. This marked a revolutionary split from the European tradition of creating the illusion of real space from a fixed point of view using devices such as linear perspective, which had dominated representation since the Renaissance.

Cubism, an opening for the abstract arts

Cubism abandoned the figurative representations found in most artistic genres in order to move towards total abstraction.It gave an avant-garde artistic style of the twentieth century. Artists had the ambition to represent many things and emotions in a single painting.  This aspect of abstract painting, along with its unique evolution and long-lasting influence, made cubism one of the most famous art forms of the 20th century. The influence of Cubism is also evident in contemporary art, the inclusion of real objects directly into art was the origin of one of the most important ideas of modern art.

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