Cubism and les Demoiselles D’avignon Essay

Submitted By nngreene34
Words: 820
Pages: 4
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Neosha Greene
Essay 2
3/1/12
English 101 10:00

I have explained the art of cubism and its role. I have chosen the cubit painting “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” painted by Pablo Picasso. He was the famous cubist painter. Picasso and Braque were the innovators of the cubist painting. In this research paper, I have tried to explain the formal characteristics like color, theme and texture that were used in the painting Les Demoiselles d’Avignon but honestly It does the painting no justce. The paper also includes political and social factors related to the painting. In this paper I have also mentioned the interpretation of the art historians related to the painting.
About Cubism
Cubism can be defined as an advanced art movement that modernized European painting and sculpture in the early 20th century. The core essence of cubism is that instead of viewing subjects from a single, fixed angle, the sculptor breaks them up into a multiplicity of aspect, so that several aspects or features of the subject can be seen simultaneously. It is a wonderful way to express the complexity and depth of world in a simplified manner (Cubism, 2001).
Cubism is a unique format where square shapes are formed together. In cubism, the square shapes are also often softened with curves. In the artworks of a cubist, objects are broken up, analyzed, and re-assembled in an abstracted form. The artist depicts the subject of his painting from a massive number of viewpoints to represent the subject in a greater context instead of depicting objects from one viewpoint (Curtis, 1999).
One of distinct characteristics of Cubism is that the background and object planes interpenetrate with one another to create the shallow ambiguous space. The Cubist style emphasizes on the flat and two-dimensional surface of the picture plane. It rejects the traditional techniques of perspective, foreshortening and disproving the time-honored theories of art as the replication of nature. A cubist painter presents a new reality in paintings that depicts radically fragmented objects, whose several sides can be seen simultaneously. They do not copy the form, texture, and color (Cubism, 2001).
The chief creators or innovators of Cubism were Picasso and Gorges Braque. In the year1908, the term cubism was first used by the French art reviewer Louis Vauxcelles. After some years, the term was in wide use but the two creators of cubism avoid using it for a long time (Cubism, 2001). Cubism seems to be uniquely adjusted to the busy dynamic of contemporary life. Cubism consists of both theoretical and practical forms; practical form being more dominant (Curtis, 1999).

Picasso was a painter as well as a sculptor. Les Demoiselles d’Avignon was the most significant work of Picasso in the development of Cubism. Picasso uses angry definitive lines and a great concept of light and shadow (Picasso, 1996). With his artwork, Picasso was also a free thinker. He had a unique style and due to this unique style, he became the first artist to have fame during his lifetime. Picasso was a great innovative artist who used to search new ways to express space and forms in painting. There are different shades used by Picasso that describe the still life composition of
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