Cubism

Which two famous artists founded Cubism?

• Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera

• Vincent VanGogh and Leonardo Davinci

• Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque

• Michelangelo and Raphael

Answer explanation

In 1907 Paris, Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque met when Braque visited Picasso at his studio. This meeting marked the beginning of a very important friendship in the history of art. Together, the two artists developed Cubism art, a revolutionary new style of painting, which transformed the world into geometric shapes. Braque would later say about his friendship and working relationship with Picasso: “The things that Picasso and I said to one another during those years will never be said again, and even if they were, no one would understand them anymore. It was like being roped together on a mountain”.

How did Cubist artists show multiple viewpoints at one time?

• by using warm and cool colors

• by breaking down objects into different planes

• by using correct proportions

• by using atmospheric perspective

Answer explanation

By breaking objects and figures down into distinct areas – or planes – the artists aimed to show different viewpoints at the same time and within the same space and so suggest their three dimensional form.

Cubist artist focused on perspective.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

Cubist artists did not focus on traditional perspective. This marked a revolutionary break with the European tradition of creating the illusion of real space from a fixed viewpoint using devices such as linear perspective, which had dominated representation from the Renaissance onwards.

What are the two main types of Cubism?

• Modern and Postmodern

• Warm and Cool

• Realistic and Abstract

• Analytical and Synthetic

Answer explanation

Cubism developed in two distinct phases: analytical cubism and (later) synthetic cubism.

Analytical: considered to run from 1908-1912. The artworks look severe, and are made up of an interweaving of planes and lines in muted tones of blacks, greys and ochres. This simplified palette was chosen so as not to distract the viewer from the structure of the form and the density of the image at the centre of the canvas.

Synthetic: is the later phase of cubism, dating from around 1912 to 1914, and characterised by simpler shapes and brighter colours. Synthetic cubism began when cubist artists started using textures and patterns in their paintings and experimenting with the collage form. This inclusion of real objects in art was the beginning of one of the important ideas in modern art, to work with already existing (readymade) objects.

Which Picasso painting was considered the first Cubist Painting?

• 
• 
• 
• 

Answer explanation

Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907)

Arguably one of the most famous Cubist artworks is Picasso’s 1907 Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. The stylisation and distortion in this painting were inspired by African art, which Picasso had first seen in person in 1907 at the ethnographic museum in the Palais du Trocadéro in Paris.