Cubism is what? Cubism in art. Representatives of the direction and paintings in the style of cubism

The emergence of cubism is attributed to 1906-1907. This trend developed and originated mainly in France (the brightest representatives are P. Picasso, H. Griss and G. Braque), as well as in some other countries.

What is Cubism?

We will try to answer this question. Cubism is a special artistic direction, the language of which is based on the deformation of objects, their decomposition into geometric planes, and the shift of form.

The main idea on which he was built was an attempt to express all the complexity, diversity of the surrounding reality with the help of the simplest spatial models and forms of phenomena and things. The emergence of this trend has changed many established principles and aesthetic representations in European painting. Representatives of Cubism broke with "optical realism," rejecting nature as a subject of fine art, from perspective and chiaroscuro as the only means of artistic expressiveness.

Pablo Picasso

For this painter throughout his creative career was characterized by work in several styles simultaneously. Picasso alternately resorted to completely opposite ways of expressing his worldview.

In his work can be found and cubist painting, bordering on abstract art, and realism. Sometimes, in his search, he departed so much from traditional classical art that his return to the path of realistic creativity seemed inconceivable. However, the artist created stunning portraits and still-lifes in the style of cubism. These were realistic works written in an inimitable, individual manner. Traditional artistic means, which the author used, served to solve modern problems. One of the first paintings written in the style of cubism, is the painting "Avignon girls" by P. Picasso. This work of art is characterized by unusual grotesqueness: it shows coarse figures without elements of light and shade and perspectives, presented as a combination of decomposed volumes on a plane.

Characteristics

French critic L. Vosel first used the term "cubist" in 1908 as a mocking name of artists depicting reality with the help of regular geometric volumetric figures (cylinder, cone, cube, ball). Such creativity contained a challenge to the traditions of realistic art. Paintings in the style of cubism differed in attraction to ascetic color, to tangible, simple forms and elementary motives (for example, utensils, wood or house). This feature is most clearly manifested in his early work in the "Cezanne" period (1907-1909). The artist P. Cezann emphasizes the stability and objectivity of the world; Faceted volumes, which he uses as a tool for transferring the image, form a kind of relief, and the colors highlight certain facets of objects, while strengthening and splitting the volume. The next stage in the development of cubism is "analytical" (1910-1912). The object is divided into small parts, easily separable from each other, and its shape as if spread out on the canvas. The last, "synthetic" stage (1912-1914) is more decorative, the pictures become colorful flat panels, some textural elements appear - three-dimensional designs, stickers (collages), powder ... At the same time, cubist sculpture is born. Picasso and Marriage often included certain letters or words in the canvas. These inscriptions, as a rule, did not correspond to the content, but they helped the visitors of the exhibitions approximately understand the artist's intention.

Reaction of spectators

The audience treated the creativity of the Cubists with irony, sometimes even endowing them with unflattering epithets and ridicule. The press published a harsh criticism, sometimes approaching a public scandal in nature. The spectators who appeared at the exhibition of canvases of the Cubists felt the sensations that can be compared with the feelings of a person who was going on a pleasant journey, but instead received an invitation to take part in the laying of new paths.

Such a reaction confirmed that the transition to this direction occurred rapidly, despite the long preparatory period during which the metropolitan viewer should have significantly expanded his horizons. Nevertheless, Cubism, paintings written in this style, liked a certain part of the audience and found support from patrons.

The influence of cubism on art

This direction strongly influenced the development of creative thought. Cubism in art reflected new tendencies of life in all its multifacetedness and contradiction: the desire for democratization is the recognition of primitivism, the rejection of individual, private, chamber; Faith in science - the desire to create a "grammar of art," the search for objective methods.

Today, every unprejudiced person, admiring the works of the Impressionists, visually distinguishes the conventionality of the colors familiar to us. And at the time of its emergence it seemed to everyone that Cubism was a real revolution in art. It is this direction that analyzes all existing components of painting. The shape of the image, the color and linear perspectives, the volumes become conditional.

Cubism in Russia

In the era preceding the emergence of Cubism, in our country, as in France, interest in folk, traditional creativity has increased. At this time, young Russian artists were not only interested in "primitive" art (including African art), but also in longing for strict inviolability, architectural composition, as well as belief in the well-known regularity and mathematics of rhythmic experiences.

In the work of many Russian artists, Cubism occupies a certain place (Chagall, Lentulov, Arkhipenko, Altman and others). However, the central figure, of course, is Kazimir Malevich. His pedagogical activity and creativity, as well as theoretical work, had a huge influence on the formation of a whole direction.

"Black square"

It may seem that there is nothing easier than to draw a black square on a white background. This can probably be portrayed by any person. But here's the mystery: this famous picture of the Russian artist Malevich still attracts the attention of researchers and art lovers, although it was created at the beginning of the last century. As something mysterious, like a myth, as a symbol of the Russian avant-garde ...

It is said that the artist, writing "Black Square", did not understand what he had done, and for a long time could not eat or sleep. In fact, it was a difficult job to make this picture come into being. After all, when you look at it, below the cracks, the lower layers become visible-green, pink, apparently there was a certain color composition, but the author found it unsuccessful and painted a black square over it. This work of art was sustained in the style of cubism. Malevich's paintings differed in variety, but he himself believed that it was the "Black Square" that was the peak of his creative activity.