Art history: Understanding cubism – Part 1

I learned Cubism at school and I felt it was a really great art form. It had a form but a very abstract one that appealed to be. Drawing something as it is is a bit boring and you can do that nowadays with a camera but with Cubism, the abstract shapes are your creation and you have as much freedom as you want!

Cubism was invented in the 20th Century and was an art movement that ‘revolutionized’ painting in the world but in Europe (France) especially.

Cubism is a normal scene but painted in such a way that it can be viewed from multiple angles to show the painting as abstract and odd. The object painted is usually painted from several viewpoints to add to the oddness of the painting.

Art historians believe that the first work of Cubism was from an artist named Paul Cezanne. He then inspired such famous painters as Picasso, Gris and Braque. The trio worked closely together until WW1 in 1914.

The term Cubism was coined by Louis Vauxcelles,a n art critic who remarked that Braque’s painting was ‘full of little cubes’, hence Cubism.

Cubism though, isn’t restrained to paintings: It can also be used in real life. Ettore Bugatti, the founder of the Bugatti car make, was influenced by Cubism and his engines had Cubism behind them.

To understand Cubism, you have to break away from the rules of painting and come up with your own ideas and place them in an abstract world. You’ve got to break the art rules in order to make a great Cubism painting. This is an art form for people who may have trouble drawing realistic objects or for people who want to branch out their work and try something different. Either way, Cubism will go down is history as a major type of art that influence many great artists and heralded in anew form of painting.