1. History of Painting
Cubism

2. Cubism
Slide concept by William V. Ganis, PhD FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY For publication, reproduction or transmission of images, please contact individual artists, estates, photographers and exhibiting institutions for permissions and rights.

3. Cubism
Although many artists made pieces that had aspects of what came to be called cubism before 1907, we usually date the birth of Cubism to Picasso’s painting “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon”.
Picasso and Braque worked together to develop cubism, and influenced many artists, designers, architects – essentially helping to define the modern style.

4. Before Cubism – Picasso’s “Blue Period” Pablo Picasso
The Blind Man’s Meal
1903 oil on canvas

5. We can see from this image how Picasso Is influenced by African masks
Slide concept by William V. Ganis, PhD FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY For publication, reproduction or transmission of images, please contact individual artists, estates, photographers and exhibiting institutions for permissions and rights.
Pablo Picasso
Gertrude Stein
oil on canvas 3 ft. 3 3/8 in. x 2 ft. 8 in.

6. The first “Cubist” painting
Slide concept by William V. Ganis, PhD FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY For publication, reproduction or transmission of images, please contact individual artists, estates, photographers and exhibiting institutions for permissions and rights.
Pablo Picasso
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon
1907 oil on canvas 8 ft. x 7 ft. 8 in.

7. What defines cubism? Abstraction = simplification of shapes and lines
Flattening of the image = strong outlines mean that the three-dimensional aspect of the subject is not as important
Multiple perspectives = often we can see the subject from different angles
Fragmentation = cutting up the subject, sometimes rearranging the pieces

8. Georges Braque Houses of L’Estaque 1908 oil on canvas
Slide concept by William V. Ganis, PhD FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY For publication, reproduction or transmission of images, please contact individual artists, estates, photographers and exhibiting institutions for permissions and rights.
Georges Braque
Houses of L’Estaque
1908 oil on canvas
28 3/4 x 23 5/8 in.

9. Georges Braque The Portuguese
Slide concept by William V. Ganis, PhD FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY For publication, reproduction or transmission of images, please contact individual artists, estates, photographers and exhibiting institutions for permissions and rights.
Georges Braque
The Portuguese
1911 oil on canvas 3 ft. 10 1/8 in. x 2 ft. 8 in.

10. Pablo Picasso Ma Jolie 1911 oil on canvas 39 3/8 x 25 3/4 in.
Slide concept by William V. Ganis, PhD FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY For publication, reproduction or transmission of images, please contact individual artists, estates, photographers and exhibiting institutions for permissions and rights.
Pablo Picasso
Ma Jolie
1911 oil on canvas
39 3/8 x 25 3/4 in.

11. L’Affiche de Kubelick (Le Violon)
Slide concept by William V. Ganis, PhD
FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY
For publication, reproduction or transmission of images, please contact individual artists, estates, photographers and exhibiting institutions for permissions and rights.
Georges Braque
L’Affiche de Kubelick (Le Violon)
1912
oil on canvas
18 1/8 x 24 in.

12. Pablo Picasso
The Accordionist
Summer 1911 oil on canvas 51 x 35 in.

13. Cubism helped to reflect the modern city- its speed, its life, and its fragmentation
Slide concept by William V. Ganis, PhD FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY For publication, reproduction or transmission of images, please contact individual artists, estates, photographers and exhibiting institutions for permissions and rights.
Robert Delaunay
Champs de Mars
1911 oil on canvas 5 ft. 3 in. x 4 ft. 3 in.

14. This is one of the first collages – here Picasso is
using paint and rope and part of a chair
Slide concept by William V. Ganis, PhD FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY For publication, reproduction or transmission of images, please contact individual artists, estates, photographers and exhibiting institutions for permissions and rights.
Pablo Picasso
Still Life with Chair-Caning
1912 oil and oilcloth on canvas 10 5/8 in. x 1 ft. 1 3/4 in.

15. Bottle, Newspaper, Pipe and Glass
Slide concept by William V. Ganis, PhD FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY For publication, reproduction or transmission of images, please contact individual artists, estates, photographers and exhibiting institutions for permissions and rights.
Georges Braque
Bottle, Newspaper, Pipe and Glass
1913 charcoal and various papers pasted on paper 1 ft. 6 7/8 in. x 2 ft. 1 3/4 in.

16. Cubism also extended into sculpture – here is a model for Picasso’s sculpture of a guitar
Slide concept by William V. Ganis, PhD FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY For publication, reproduction or transmission of images, please contact individual artists, estates, photographers and exhibiting institutions for permissions and rights.
Pablo Picasso
maquette for Guitar
1912 cardboard, string and wire 2 ft. 1 1/4 in. x 1 ft. 7 1/2 in.

17. Jacques Lipchitz Bather 1917 bronze 2 ft. 10 3/4 in. x 1 ft. 1 1/4 in.
Slide concept by William V. Ganis, PhD FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY For publication, reproduction or transmission of images, please contact individual artists, estates, photographers and exhibiting institutions for permissions and rights.
Jacques Lipchitz
Bather
1917 bronze 2 ft. 10 3/4 in. x 1 ft. 1 1/4 in.

18. Aleksandr Archipenko Woman Combing Her Hair 1915
Slide concept by William V. Ganis, PhD FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY For publication, reproduction or transmission of images, please contact individual artists, estates, photographers and exhibiting institutions for permissions and rights.
Aleksandr Archipenko
Woman Combing Her Hair
1915
bronze approximately 1 ft. 1 3/4 in. high

19. Julio González Woman Combing Her Hair
Slide concept by William V. Ganis, PhD FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY For publication, reproduction or transmission of images, please contact individual artists, estates, photographers and exhibiting institutions for permissions and rights.
Julio González
Woman Combing Her Hair
ca iron 4 ft. 9 in. high

20. Guernica
Picasso’s most famous painting – by this point, his cubism has developed to be more expressive; he uses the fragmentation and multiple angles to express the horror and suffering of war -- painted after the bombing of the Spanish city, Guernica, during the Spanish Civil War

21. Guernica, 1937
“Picasso's painting is without question the most important anti-war work of art produced in the Twentieth Century.” (

22. What do you think an artist is
What do you think an artist is? An imbecile who has only eyes if he is a painter, or ears if he is a musician, or a lyre in every chamber of his heart if he is a poet, or even, if he is a boxer, just his muscles? Far, far from it: at the same time, he is also a political being, constantly aware of the heartbreaking, passionate, or delightful things that happen in the world, shaping himself completely in their image. How could it be possible to feel no interest in other people, and with a cool indifference to detach yourself from the very life which they bring to you so abundantly? No, painting is not done to decorate apartments. It is an instrument of war-- Pablo Picasso