Picasso Cubism Period
Analytical Cubism 1907-1912
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon led Picasso into developing cubism – this is where form and form alone defined a subject. Analytical cubism depicts a subject by different viewpoints – all three dimensions on a two dimensional canvas. Picasso worked with Georges Braque to invent Cubism.
Georges Braque had studied Cezanne’s method of depicting three dimensional objects from different viewpoints
when Picasso was working on Demoiselles d’Avignon. Braque took this technique further by deconstructing, reconstructing and faceting the different viewpoints showing the subject’s essence rather than appearance, producing a painting that was still recognisable as the subject. Picasso used the geometry of Braque’s techniques to create a more abstract style – it looked like that he was “analysing” the subjects – hence Analytical Cubism.
Some important paintings of this period include the following:
The Dryad – 1908 – here we can see that Picasso has started to play with perspectives learnt from Demoiselles d’Avignon.
The Dance of the Veils – 1907 – here the lines do not end after depicting the subjects form, rather they then go on to give the painting a more spatial presence.
House in Garden – 1908 these paintings show how Picasso has applied this to landscapes.
The Reservoir, Houses on the Hill and Brick Factory in Tortosa 1909 – here the landscapes have been reduced to very simple abstract forms.
Portrait of Ambroise Vollard – 1910. One can see clearly that is depicts a gentleman of middle age, with grey hair and bald in the middle. The man clearly has a high forehead, a dented nose, thin upper lip and jowls. The lines that make up the composition take on lives of their own, the colours also – they do not stop when they have finished defining the form.
Synthetic Cubism 1912 - 1919
