Analytical and Synthetic Cubism

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that Cubism is the process of passage from a bar-baric dis-symmetry to an advanced abstract geometry. The paper then looks at how the the term analytical Cubism refers to Picasso and Braque's work of 1910 through early 1912 and how the term synthetic Cubism refers to their work of later 1912 through 1914. It also examines the objective contributions of Picasso and Braque to the development of modern art, particularly towards abstraction.

From the Paper:

"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. 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. Picasso apparently considered chiaroscuro a "dishonest" way of representing three-dimensional form; he therefore turned to faceting as a means of describing three-dimensional form without using conventional shading. 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. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Daix, P., Picasso au Bateau-Lavoir, Paris, 1994.
• Green, C., Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, Cambridge, 2001.
• Karmel, P., Picasso and the Invention of Cubism, New Haven and London, 2003.
• Monod-Fontaine, I., Georges Braque : les papiers colles ; 17 juin - 27 septembre 1982, Centre Georges Pompidou, Musee national d'art moderne [catalogue de l'exposition], Paris, 1982.
• Paulhan, J., Braque le patron, Geneve-Paris, 1946.

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