Cubism

Cubism was an avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture in the early 20th century.

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In cubist artworks objects are broken up, analyzed, and reassembled in an abstracted form — instead of rendering objects from a single fixed angle, the artist depicts the subject from multiple angles simultaneously as an attempt to present the subject in the most complete manner. Often the surfaces of the facets, or planes, intersect at angles that show no recognizable depth. The background and object (or figure) planes interpenetrate one another creating the ambiguous shallow space characteristic of cubism.

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Cubism began in 1906 with Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, who lived in the Montmartre quarter of Paris, France. They met in 1907, and worked closely together until World War I began in 1914.

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French art critic Louis Vauxcelles first used the term "cubism" "(bizarre cubiques)" in 1908. After which, the term was in wide use but the two creators of cubism refrained from using it for a quite some time.

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The cubism movement, born in Montmartre, expanded by the gathering of artists in Montparnasse, and was promoted by art dealer Henry Kahnweiler. It became popular so quickly that by 1910 critics were referring to a "cubist school" of artists influenced by Braque and Picasso. However, many other artists who thought of themselves as cubists went in directions quite different from Braque and Picasso, who themselves went through several distinct phases before 1920. Famous became the Puteaux Group, an offshoot of the Cubist movement, to which artists like Guillaume Apollinaire, Robert Delaunay, Marcel Duchamp, Fernand L?ger belonged.

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Cubism influenced artists of the first decades of the 20th century and it gave rise to development of new trends in art like futurism, constructivism and expressionism.

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Innovative artists, Braque and Picasso sought new ways to express space and form in painting. They were influenced by Paul Cezanne, Georges Seurat, Iberian sculpture, African tribal art (although Braque later disputed this), and by the Fauves.

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Avant-garde: Avant-garde in French means advance guard, or vanguard. People often use the term to refer to people or works that are novel or experimental, particularly with respect to art, culture and politics....

Art movement: An art movement is a tendency or style in art with a specific common philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a restricted period of time (usually a few months, years or decades). Art movements were especially important in modern art, where each consecutive movement was considered a...

20th century: The 20th century lasted from 1901 to 2000 in the Gregorian calendar. Common usage sometimes regards it as lasting from 1900 to 1999, but this is often considered incorrect due to the nonexistence of a "Year Zero" before AD 1. The 20th century is also sometimes known as the nineteen hundreds (1900s)...