Introduction to the Artistic Style of Cubism

Cubism is an avant-garde movement of art history that surfaced in the early 20th century in the decade before Europe became embroiled in the First World War. Some say that Cubism was a natural outcome of earlier movements like Impressionism and Expressionism.

Pablo Picasso and his contemporary Impressionists, including Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, and Cezanne, were already known for avant-garde paintings. These brilliant artists worked in the creative explosion in Paris, the cultural capital of the West, and responded to each other with new paintings. Who would create the painting that started a new movement in art even if it lasted only a few years before the next one surfaced in Paris?

Although the first artists labeled Cubists were different, the real source of Cubism stemmed from works by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. For example, Pablo Picasso’s “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” (1907) is a beautiful oil painting on canvas that shows the visual principles of Cubism, including irregular human figures and shapes and forms that are very geometrical instead of realistic.

Hugh Honour and John Fleming, editors of “The Visual Arts: A History,” describe the change in Picasso at the onset:

“So, abandoning the single viewpoint and normal proportions, reducing anatomy largely to geometrical lozenges and triangles, he [Picasso] completely re-ordered the human image.”

In the first stage of Analytic and Synthetic Cubism, Picasso and Braque showed evidence of geometrical forms in Picasso’s “The Three Women” (1908-1909) and “Female Nude” (1910) and Braque’s “Houses and Trees” (1908). Cubist paintings break up figures on canvas, which lends them more depth and life on a two-dimensional surface. Art history lovers can also find written notes by Braque, his aphorisms or expressions of love on the subject of art. These writings were first published in 1917, and they reveal his thinking as a Cubist. For example, Braque wrote, “To be pure imitation, painting must make an abstraction from appearances.”

The second stage of Cubism called Orphic Cubism was a side journey from Picasso and Braque. Notable artists were Robert Delaunay, Sonia Delaunay-Terk, Marcel Duchamp, Fernand Leger, and Francis Picabia. Paintings which exemplified this branch of Cubism are Sonia Delaunay’s “Simultaneous Contrasts,” and Robert Delaunay’s “Circular Forms,” and Leger’s “Contrast of Forms.” Duchamp and Picabia would soon become key members of the Dada movement; however, Dadaism focused heavily on multiple art forms, including stream-of-consciousness writing and publication and radical performance art.

In 1911, an assortment of artists displayed their works in a Paris exhibit. Written accounts of these works labeled them as the first “Cubists” even after Braque and Picasso had already created several Cubist works. In 1912, other Cubist exhibitions swept Europe, but Braque and Picasso did not participate. Two artists, Albert Gleizes and Jean Metzinger, even published “Du Cubisme,” a book on the subject. Although Picasso’s work spanned almost a century, when people think of Picasso they often conjure up an image of one of his renowned Cubist paintings.

Introduction to the Artist: Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986)

Born on November 15, 1887, in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, Georgia O’Keeffe was a female artist and icon of the twentieth century. She was an early avant-garde artist of American Modernism. Her life spanned 98 years, and her portfolio includes many works of American landscapes. She received early art instruction at the Art Institute of Chicago (1905-1907). In 1907, she moved to New York City and studied under William Merritt Chase as a member of the Art Students League. Her early career led her to further studies at Columbia University Teacher’s College and educational posts at the University of Virginia and Columbia College.

In her New York years, O’Keeffe created works described as examples of avant-garde Modernism, abstract, Minimalist, and color field theory. Two of her paintings demonstrate her lifelong skill with color regardless of the subject matter. In 1919, O’Keefe created “Blue and Green Music” and became prominent with support from Alfred Stieglitz. This abstract piece is a beautiful work of rhythm, movement, color, depth, and form. She echoes this work again in 1927 with “Abstraction Blue.” When O’Keeffe painted in watercolor or oil, she also captured beauty and emotion. In later works, O’Keeffe continued this tradition, including famous pictures of flowers and New Mexican landscapes.

O’Keeffe developed a powerful relationship with the wealthy and famous photographer, Alfred Stieglitz. The two were quite a power duo. Stieglitz is remembered as the first photographer to be exhibited in American museums, the power behind Modernist artists with his gallery 291 in New York City, the person who brought Modernism (ala Picasso) to America, and an artistic influence on artists like Ansel Adams. Although their friendship began in 1917 while Stieglitz was still married to his wife, O’Keeffe married Stieglitz in 1924.

When Stieglitz died in 1946, O’Keeffe moved from their home in Manhattan’s Shelton Hotel to New Mexico. She divided her time between a home called Ghost Ranch (frequented since the mid-thirties and purchased in 1940) and a Spanish colonial at Abiqui (purchased in 1945 and occupied in 1949). In her “Black Mesa Landscape, New Mexico / Out Back of Marie’s II” (1930), O’Keeffe again depicts movement, beauty, volume, and depth, especially in brilliant blue forms of New Mexican mountains. O’Keeffe’s work reflected other travels and influences, including a friendship with the Mexican artists, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera.

Georgia O’Keeffe’s cultural impact is preserved by the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This museum offers the only research center in the world devoted to scholarly study in American Modernism. A visit to this museum or another venue where her work is shown suggests why she was the first woman to have a solo exhibition in 1946 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. O’Keeffe died on March 6, 1986.

Introduction to the Artist: Georges Seurat (1859-1891)

The tall, reserved and distinguished-looking gentleman in a business suit must have appeared more to be a banker than a groundbreaking Post-Impressionist painter, but Georges Seurat was a bookish introvert who chose to pursue his studies on color theory rather than participate in the conviviality at the local pub with fellow artists.

Seurat was born into a financially comfortable family in Paris in 1859. Because his father was rarely at home, Georges spent much time with his mother at the nearby Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, which history would prove to have had a considerable influence on his paintings.

Initially Seurat adhered to the style and techniques of the Impressionists, with short soft brush strokes of mixed colors, often depicting scenes of bourgeois entertainment. After studying at Ecole des Beaux Arts in 1878, which was followed by a brief stint of military service, he set up his own studio near his parents’ home on the right bank, where he intently studied color optics and the overlap of painting and science.

Seurat spent much of 1883 laboring on his first large-scale project, “Bathing at Asnieres,” into which he introduced a new technique that came to be called Pointillism: painting with pure unblended colors in tiny precise dots on white which, from a suitable viewing distance, appeared as a blended composition that seemed to shimmer with light.

Seurat was insulted when the Paris Salon rejected “Bathing at Asnieres,” so he in turn rejected the Salon and started an association of young independent painters that came to be called Société des Artistes Indépendants. He became closely allied with another painter in the group, Paul Signac, who eventually wrote a definitive book on Neo-Impressionism, including a section on Pointillism.

Seurat’s greatest and most recognized painting is “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,” now a part of the Chicago Art Institute’s permanent collection. This painstaking work is 10 feet wide and took two years — 1884 and 1885 — to complete. Sixty oil sketches, or studies, show his meticulous preparation for the completed work. Stephen Sondheim created a Broadway musical, “Sunday in the Park with George,” based on Seurat’s masterpiece.

About three years after “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” was unveiled, Seurat moved to a quieter part of the city, where he led a secret life: He lived with a woman named Madeleine Knobloch, who was the subject of his painting “Young Woman Powdering Herself” and gave birth to two sons. Georges revealed his young family to his mother two days before his death from meningitis or, some say, diphtheria at age 31.

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Tempera: The History and Development of a Medium

A widely available commercial paint, tempera is often found on elementary paintbrushes in school art rooms and on the messy hands of the youngest finger painters. However, tempera is far from elementary, and its significant role in the development of an art form is anything but child’s play. In its earliest form, tempera paint was an emulsion, created through the process of mixing and thinning an oil and water blend with pigment until it reached a pasty, almost gelatinous, state. Tempera painting dates back to 12th-century Europe, and the period’s artists cultivated methods for improving both formulas and artistic techniques.

Used for medieval panel paintings, tempera evolved with the addition of egg yolks to the formula. Cennino Cennini described the egg yolk technique in an early 15th-century exposition on painting. Until the development of oil painting in the late 16th century, tempera was the principal medium of easel painting and other visual arts endeavors. However, artists found tempera’s consistency difficult to handle. Coupled with a limited number of colors, artists relied on their skill and technical knowledge to compensate for the paint’s lack of subtlety and its inability to produce the natural effects they sought.

To coax the temperamental medium into producing the desired results, a complicated technique was used, which involved priming the surface, sketching with charcoal, adding watercolor highlights and applying any underpainting. After these steps were completed, then began the slow and calculated process of building layers of tempera to produce the desired tone, depth and quality. Examples of these early works signal the necessity of artists to possess more than just ability and passion to create. Artists were now required to become experts in the techniques and processes of manipulating the very materials, which served as the conduit for their inspiration.

Galleries around the world exhibit examples of these tempera works. Two pieces that demonstrate the early technique of tempera panel paintings are the wooden panels Duccio’s “Madonna and Child with Saints Polyptych” and Botticelli’s “Madonna with Child and the Infant St. John the Baptist.” “The Crowning of the Virgin” by Raffael is an excellent representation of egg tempera on canvas. By the late 16th century, with the advent of oil paints and advancements in synthetic materials, tempera fell out of favor. Still, it holds a significant place among the many milestones in the development of painting. In contemporary times, tempera is still important as it is frequently used to spark the imaginations of young artists, who swirl its vivid colors and discover the freedom, excitement and power found in the art of painting.

Watercolor: The History and Development of a Medium

The evolution of watercolor painting began in antiquity when prehistoric humans painted cave walls with mixtures of ochre, charcoal and other pigments found in nature to create visual representations of the wild beasts encountered in the world around them. From this primitive beginning, innovations, such as the development of paper, the improvements in pigments and the awareness of aesthetic techniques, contributed to the growth of watercolor as a fine art medium.

By the 12th century, advancements in Chinese papermaking and the decorative use of watercolor spread to Europe, and a century later, European artists were preparing their own watercolor mixtures by grinding pigment and chalk for fresco wall paintings. The Sistine Chapel is the most famous example of the early use of watercolors as a fine art. Once used only for fresco painting on wet plaster, watercolor evolved into a medium used to convey powerful, striking images when applied to paper.

The advent of ready-made paints and synthetic pigments influenced watercolor’s growth as a medium. During the 15th century, printmaker Albrecht Durer developed methods that improved the paints’ appearance. Once artists realized its potential, they explored techniques that enhanced the luminous, transparent effects of the colors. English painter, J. M. W. Turner experimented with both the expressive nature and technical aspects of the medium. His work influenced the separation of watercolor into transparent and opaque colors, which today are referred to as watercolor and gouache, respectively. By the 1800s, watercolor was viewed as a serious and expressive artistic medium.

Artists have used watercolor painting to crafts works reflecting their gifts and passions. John James Audubon used watercolors to document the wildlife to which he was so devoted. Winslow Homer recorded the scenic beauty of the natural world, as evidenced in his seascapes of Maine, the soft colors of the Bahamas and the splendor of the Adirondacks. French master, Paul Cézanne’s technique of overlapping watercolor washes provided his distinctive use of color and tone, as shown in his piece “Still Life with Watermelon and Pomegranates.” Vincent Van Gogh, best known for his oil paintings, developed his watercolor techniques to create over 100 pieces, such as “Boats on the Beach of Saintes-Maries” and “Scheveningen Women and Other People Under Umbrellas.”

Other artists of the past, like Edward Hopper, Georgia O’Keeffe, Charles Burchfiueld and Andrew Wyeth, have used this medium to create striking works of art, while contemporary artists continue to use watercolors to convey their visions. Whether possessing rich, vivid tones or offering soft, soothing compositions, artists’ work with watercolor demonstrates the power, development and versatility of this celebrated medium.

Oil Paint: The History and Development of a Medium

As evidenced by the innumerable masterpieces exhibited on gallery walls of the most prestigious museums worldwide, perhaps it is the medium of oil that has created the most significant impact on the development of painting as visual art form. Painting with oil on canvas continues to be a favored choice of serious painters because of its long-lasting color and a variety of approaches and methods. Oil paints may have been used as far back as the 13th century. However as a medium in its modern form, Belgian painter, Jan van Eyck, developed it during the 15th century. Because artists were troubled by the excessive amount of drying time, van Eyck found a method that allowed painters an easier method of developing their compositions. By mixing pigments with linseed and nut oils, he discovered how to create a palette of vibrant oil colors.

Over time, other artists, such as Messina and da Vinci, improved upon the recipe by making it an ideal medium for representing details, forms and figures with a range of colors, shadows and depths. During the Renaissance, which is often referred to as the Golden Age of painting, artists developed their crafts and established many of the techniques that provided the medium of oil to emerge. The refinement of oil painting came through studies in perspective, proportion and human anatomy. During the Renaissance, the goal for artists was to create realistic images. They sought to represent all that was caught by an artist’s detailed eye, as well as capture and present the intensity of human emotions.

Giovanni Bellini’s work from 1480, “St. Francis in Ecstasy,” captures oil’s ability to create an accurate, complex composition with the soft glow of morning light and the detailed perspective of the natural landscape. Oil became a useful medium during the Baroque period, when artists sought to display the intensity of emotion through the careful manipulation of light and shadows. Rembrandt’s use of oil in his piece, “Night Watch,” from 1642, displays the concerns of the night watch with a dark, yet detailed background and the crisp brightness of the golden garments. In the mid-19th century, as painters explored new approaches and developed new movements, oil as a medium followed. In the 1872 painting “Impression, Sunrise,” for which the Impressionist movement was named, Monet used oil to provide an evocative view of the harbor, silhouettes and sun as reflections danced on the water. Into Modernism and beyond, oil has been used by artists, such as Kandinsky, Picasso and Matisse, to further their experimental approaches in the early 20th century.

Easily removed from the canvas, oil allows the artist to revise a work. With its flexible nature, long history and large body of theories, oil painting has created a most significant impact on visual art. New developments in oil paints continued into the 20th century, with advent of oil paint sticks, which were used by artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Anselm Kiefer. Since the Renaissance, the masters used oil to create works that continue to inspire, intrigue and delight, and today, artists continue to use this significant medium to express their visions, goals and emotions.