Cubism - An Artistic Revolution

Cubism was a twentieth century art movement that revolutionized painting Funky Phantom sculpture by flattening and distorting space. Artists fully exploited the visual possibilities t-shirts this changing reality in a variety of ways. Not only did they create patterned images I Saw Three Ships than realistic illusions, but they usually chose machine-produced objects as their subjects rather than the naturalistic subjects of classical art and Impressionism.

Some Cubists used modern materials rather than traditional paint on canvas. Newsprint, paper and fabric were common elements in these collages. The process of creating art had always been considered a closely guarded secret, but Cubists were open about their methods, which further demystified the artistic process. Modern technology, the Cubists Oklahoma Lemon Laws had produced a type of manufactured man, and the artists in turn created appropriately manufactured art.

One of the few artists to apply the Cubist technique to the human figure was the Spaniard Picasso. Picasso countered the insistent break-up of the pictorial space caused by the Cubist technique with the coherence established by repeated similar units. The internal structure of the composition was given supremacy over the external structure of the subject. In addition to this, Picasso's revelatory interpretations of the female nude were erotic and disturbing. The traditionally taboo topics of sexuality and unconscious urges were hidden no longer.

Perhaps the greatest master of this new artistic The Christmas Song was Paul Cezanne. Cezanne's subject was always the realism of the mind and not the eye. Like many other artists of his day, Cezanne's goal was depicting the a mood rather than creating an illusion of physical reality. Cezanne not only flattened space but succeeded in the elimination of hierarchy completely. His works contain no central focus upon which the viewer can fix, but an idealized democratization. Planes overlap, and the surface color establishes an equality between the matter depicted and the surrounding atmosphere.

As Wassily Kandinsky, one of Cezanne's foremost contemporary artists, noted in his influential book The Art of Spiritual Harmony, the animate and the inanimate in still life paintings are given equal attention in Cezanne's work: "Cezanne made a living thing out of a teacup, or rather in a teacup he realized the existence of something alive. He raised still life to such a point that it ceased to be inanimate."

Perhaps this quest to discover the aliveness in objects as well as in people and landscapes was also a response to the modern environment of cities and mass-produced goods which were rapidly replacing the agrarian way of life. For many modern artists, the process of spiritualizing matter and the exploration of the fundamental energy of life was a major theme.

Although Cubism is disturbing to many viewers, this unique approach to art and life is also fascinating and refreshing. The liberation of breaking the bonds of past tradition is combined with a sense of adventure and excitement about the infinite new possibilities in art.

Kathleen Karlsen, MA is an artist, writer and web design consultant residing in Bozeman, Montana. Kathleen is best known for her contemporary impressionism style and her colorful flower paintings, forest paintings and landscape art. Kathleen's original art and fine art gifts can be seen at target="_new" www.livingartsoriginals.com">www.livingartsoriginals.com . For summaries of Kathleen's articles on art-related topics, see target="_new" www.livingartsoriginals.com/mainarticles.htm">www.livingartsoriginals.com/mainarticles.htm . To see Kathleen's unique forest paintings, see target="_new" www.livingartsoriginals.com/originalforests.htm">www.livingartsoriginals.com/originalforests.htm .