CUBISM

As all we know, cubism has come to be associated with one name in particular, Pablo Picasso. However, it should be duly noted that Georges Braque was also a leader of the movement and that he and Picasso worked so well off of one another that, at the height of Cubism’s reign, their paintings are practically indistinguishable from one another. It’s often noted that Cubism was ushered in a definitive movement with the revelation of Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907), which shows nude women in a fractured perspective and which demonstrates a significant African influence. The central aims of Cubists were to discard the conventions of the past to merely mimic nature and to start in a new vein to highlight the flat dimensionality of the canvas. This effect was achieved through the use of various conflicting vantage points the paint pictures of common objects such as musical instruments, pitchers, bottles, and the human figure. As they progressed in their work, Braque and Picasso adopted the use of a monochromatic scale to emphasize their focus on the inherent structure of their works. 

PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973)
'Weeping Woman', 1937 (oil on canvas)

PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973)
'Factory, Horta de Ebbo', 1909 (oil on canvas)

PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973)
'Still Life with mandolin and Guitar', 1924 (oil on canvas)

JUAN GRIS (1887-1927)
'Violin and Glass', 1915 (oil on canvas)

GEORGES BRAQUE (1882-1963)
'Violin and Jug', 1910 (oil on canvas)