Style & Cubism

Modern Life is Rubbish: Revolutionising the Image

Style

In todays lecture with Dr Anna Powell we cover the movements of cubism and futurism. To begin with we discussed the meaning of style and how this contributes to the art movement. Style refers to the particular characteristics, aesthetic or form of work. For a long time Doryphoros (know as the Canon or the rule) by Polykleitos was said to be the ultimate perfect work of art. Artists would refer to this sculpture as if it sets the mathematical rule of how the human body should be presented. Comparing this sculpture to a modern sculpture of Kate Moss in a yoga position shows how we have adapted this style today and the significant impact it has had on art.

Artists can also have multiple styles themselves, for example; Pablo Picasso was well known for his abstract art of distorted faces and bright colours, but he also created work like this (below). The paintings have high contrast in characteristics.

The End of Art Nouveau? 

By the end of WW1 Art Nouveau had quickly fizzled out. The movement didn’t last very long and people still question why. Some people assume it is because it wasn’t modern enough while others argued that due to the intricate detail that it wasn’t suitable for mass production.

Taking a look at Lucian Bernhard who was an german graphic designer (1883-1972), he was exposed to Art Nouveau during his early days. His work seemed to be heavily influenced by the Beggarstaff Brothers (William Nicholson and James Pryde). The brothers were known for their reductive abstraction and seemed inspired by Japanese wooden blocks. They made use of positive and negative space and took Art Nouveau and minimised it, taking away the criticised parts of the style and adding text.

Lucian Bernhard became known for what we called the ‘object poster’. He designed the Sachplakat Plakatstil. These were basically simplified posters which were straight to the point, including just the brand name and imagery of the focus point. You didn’t have to use semiotic or your knowledge of cultural understanding to know what the poster was saying.

As you can see from the examples below that these are a big influence in design today and has even been developed into a minimal reductivist style using symbolism as a feature.

Cubism

Cubism began in the early 20th century and has very strong characteristics that distinguish it from other art movements. It was developed in 1907 by Pablo Picasso (Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, 1907) and Georges Baraque (Large Nudes, 1908) and was thought to be a revolutionary approach representing reality. Pablo was very interested in African mask art which you can see from the example below. He quoted ‘A head is a matter of eyes, nose, mouth, which can be distributed in any way you like’.

Some people critised cubism as it was a revolutionary and innovative movement and people didn’t easily adapt to new styles and they weren’t used to it. Some said that it all looked the same and was rubbish, that people only bought it if it was given a good title. It was frowned upon for it’s harsh lines and distortion but artists said it was a reaction against realism. It involved fragmented and broken aspects, geometric shapes and intersecting lines, blocked colour – sometimes monochrome, conceptual approaches, and chose to take more of a persons perspective rather than a realist. Classic examples would be Juan Gris (Violin and Glass, 1915) and George Braque (Violin and Pitcher, 1910). 

Paul Cezanne was another big influence in the Cubism movement, particularly his piece ‘Bibemus Quarry‘ in 1895. His idea of presenting multiple perceptions and planes was strongly adapted. Cezanne was analysed in an essay called ‘Cezannes doubts’ in 1945 by Maurice Merleau-Ponty. He discussed how he gave up the traditional painting methods and no longer wanted people to think about what they’re seeing, but rather have a sense and perception on the subject. He believed that he could capture a moment in time