#Synthetic cubism series#

Explore cubism and learn about the stylistic differences between analytical and synthetic cubism. For Picasso, the aim is to dismantle the object, here the piano, following an extremely strict formal interpretation.Cubism is an art form that focuses on geometric shapes in art. Take for instance the Still Life on a Piano (1911-12, oil on canvas, 130 x 50 cm, National Gallery, London). In the process, they began with a relatively recognisable object or figure and “analysed” it – took it apart and restructured it – often to the point of abstraction. In the works of the period starting from 1910 and going to the early 1912, both artists studied the object or the figure under all its angles and apprehended them in the most complete way, according to their own internal vision of them.

Taking as his reference art alone, Picasso and Braque embarked in the fragmentation of the object. The year 1910 marked the summit of Analytical Cubism, as it is often called, a purely intellectual speculation on the formal structure of the object or the figure, which eventually leads to a purely conceptual realisation of it.

#Synthetic cubism series#

The continuous faceting of 1909 was replaced in 1910-12 by an new image of the body as an open scaffolding supporting a series of free-floating planes. This sense of solidity soon began to dissolve, however. After the dematerialization of form in Impressionism, and the flattening of form in Post-Impres¬sionism, this restoration of a sense of sculptural solidity (without a return to conventional real¬ism) was a major achievement. Picasso apparently consid¬ered chiaroscuro a “dishonest” way of representing three-dimensional form he therefore turned to faceting as a means of describing threedimensional form without using conventional shading. Indeed, Picasso had definitely renounced the traditional chia¬roscuro – the technique of evoking three-dimensional form by reproducing the way that incident light plays across it, producing a sequence of highlights and shadows. Analytical and Synthetic Cubism: Picasso and Braque By 1909, Picasso, working in close collaboration with Georges Braque, had invented Cubism, a kind of painting more sculptural than any before, since it presented simultaneously more than one view of the subject. The usage of “Analytical Cubism” to refer to Picasso and Braque’s work of 1910 through early 1912 and “Synthetic Cubism” to refer to their work of later 1912 through 1914 has now become canonical. In empirist discussions of perception, indeed, “analysis” was associated with the scientific quest to identify the most basic units of sensation, while “synthesis” served to describe the mind’s activity in forging a single perception from the varied sensations triggered by a given object or experience. Part of the confusion here stems from the adjectives “analytic” and “synthetic.” In Kant’s Cri¬tique of Pure Reason, they are associated with different kinds of logical judgements, but this us¬age has nothing to do with Cubism. To understand Cubism, indeed, it seems worth considering the terms Analytical Cubism and Synthetical Cubism, which are used so routinely by art historians that it seems as if they must belong to the inner history of the movement, although in fact they were never employed by Picasso or Braque. In this respect, precisely, we could ask ourselves what is the objective contribution of Picasso, as well as Braque, in the development of modern art, particularly towards abstraction. At first, Cubism thus figures as a complete break-up with perspective devices and Renaissance illusionnism, a revolution already started by both Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists in the previous century.

Indeed, while Picasso brutally disrupts the natural appearance of the five prostitutes depicted, he is nevertheless attempting to respect the physique of space which appears on the lifesize canvas, the contrasting physique of graphic rhythms, of imagined, imaginary colours. 2012 Erika González Ehrlich 163 Analytical and Synthetic Cubism: Picasso and Braque Erika González Ehrlich Candidate to Master of Arts at the School of Doctoral Studies of the European Union Email: “Elles sont là… Formidables, catégoriques, flambantes… Les femmes… Les vraies… Les enfin vraies… dans la toile sans figure cachée du tissu… Pas derrière, ni ailleurs, ni au-delà… Simplement là, en apparence.” Picasso’s first chef-d’œuvre, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (from 1907), one of the most famous work of twentiethcentury art, is often considered as the first cubist work insofar as it represents painting completely breaking up with nature, and more accurately “external” nature.