Cubism Review

Benjamin T. Shirrell Painting 1 April 2010 The most interesting statement I found in my exploration of Cubism was from historian John Golding: Cubism was perhaps the most important and certainly the most complete and radical artistic revolution since the Renaissance. New forms of society, changing patronage, varying geographic conditions, all these things have gone to produce over the past five hundred years a succession of different schools, different styles, different pictorial idioms. But none of these has so altered the principles, so shaken the foundations of Western painting, as did Cubism. _ This statement put emphasis on the Cubist period, a time, which was of vast importance and developing style. Seeing the works and taking the time to understand them are two contributors that make these artists more significant. Picasso created a work in 1907, known as one of the century’s most important Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. Important in the sense that it moved other influential artists, but also because of deeper meaning in style and message. Although Picasso didn’t create his fully developed Cubist paintings in 1907, his work of that year instigated the cubist revolution. A brand-new approach representing space and the construction of form that was later a defying Cubists’ most important qualities. An important concept I learned understanding cubism understood the difference in experimental artists and conceptual artists. Experimental artists develop their contributions gradually and have a maturing style while conceptual artists put a more random thought provoked effort. Picasso’s initial goal was to describe knowledge of objects rather than their appearance. Before Demoiselles d’ Avignon, came a number of preparatory sketches. I was able to find a gallery of some sketches online, the most fascinating in my opinion. I noticed sketches from hard lines up to incorporation of color and later incorporation of instruments. I was greatly influenced by these sketches in my most recent works.