Picasso and Cubism

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer studies Picasso's painting "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" and notes that Picasso is considered one of the persons that most revolutionized the history of art. The writer points out that the painting reveals a new point of view where Picasso eliminates all tradition, denying realism, the canons of depth and the classical ideal of the female body. Specifically, the writer describes the painting's composition, its structure, the lack of light or shadows in the drawing, how logic and colors are used in the work, and how a new element, the movement, that would be developed by contemporary art, is introduced in the painting.

From the Paper:

"The entire composition is reduced to a group of angular planes, with no background or space perspective. The shapes are marked by light and dark lines. Five nude women are seen in the centre. On the lower part there is a still nature, typical of cubist preferred subjects, created by a group of fruits over a clothed table. This combination of many elements, that seemed put together on top of the flat background, reminds the collage fashion of contemporary art.
"The two most cubist faces, that resemble masks, are clearly influenced by African art, that was beginning to be known in Europe around that time. They seem unnaturally colored as real masks, and present exaggerated features more caricaturist that portraitist. The two faces on the centre are inspired on medieval frescoes and primitive Iberian sculptures. The woman on the left resembles ancient Egyptian paintings, not only by her profile design, but the body posture: standing up, rigid, arms close to the body, one foot forward."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Penrose, Roland. Picasso, his life and work. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1981.

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