Art Appreciation/Education "class" #5: Cubism

6/20/05 | republicanprofessor

[Republicanprofessor]

The fifth in this series. Sorry it's so long; the ideas are pretty complex. And I don't want to break this up into smaller essays.

[Republicanprofessor]

Ping.

Art Appreciation/Education ping list. Let me know if you want on or off this list.

[JLS]

Please add me to the list. Also is there a backlist of links, since I am adding the course late and need to catch up.

[Republicanprofessor]

You've been added to the list.

The previous posts are:

class 4: Expressionism

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1424087/posts

class 3: Cezanne and van Gogh

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1419876/posts

class 2: Impressionism and Post-Impressionism

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1414727/posts

class 1: Realism: Manet and Homer

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1410117/posts

Feel free to make continuing comments on the "old" classes, or bring the comments into the most current thread.

The next "class" will probably be later this week, on Surrealism. Next week: Abstract Expressionism (that's Pollock).

[Labyrinthos]

Nothing about these paintings makes me feel good (or perhaps I should say "feel appreciative"). The sensory overload is too much for my tastes. I understand Piccaso and Cubism a little better, thanks to your lesson, but I don't like the style today any more than I did yesterday.

[Republicanprofessor]

Actually, you are interpreting these pretty well. They are much less about emotion (and "feeling good") than are the Expressionists like Matisse. They are more about a cerebral exercise, which could be leading to the "sensory overload" that you experienced.

Comparable musicians at the time include Igor Stravinsky. His Rite of Spring from 1912-13, is emtional and much like Matisse and his Dance. But his later works are also cerebral and sometimes can be seen as patchworks, much like the planes of Cubism. His work after Rite is much less emotional and I can't get into it beyond an intellectual exercise.

In case any one wants to get into the music of the time too:

for Rite:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000000C0U/qid=1119353850/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/104-1607871-9664746?v=glance&s=classical

For Soldier's Story: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005M9HW/qid=1119353935/sr=8-13/ref=pd_ka_6/104-1607871-9664746?v=glance&s=music&n=507846

[Republicanprofessor]

Classical Music ping.

I've done this art thread, but since I added something about "classical" music of the time (i.e. Stravinsky), I thought I'd expand the pings to music in case you guys want to chime in.

[aristotleman]

Bump for later appreciation!

Please add me to the list, prof.

[John O]

Since my mama taught me to never say anything bad about people let me give picasso this compliment. He really helps me appreciate Matise as a good painter.

Somewhat teasing of course. All of these would fail the sofa test resoundingly.

I've never understood what people see in picasso. The guy had to be stoned to paint so poorly. The pictures aren't even interesting. (You want perspective, see Escher (Hope I got his name right))

[LexBaird]

Cubism was first introduced to me as an attempt at a new way of showing 3D objects on a 2D surface. The traditional method of doing this is to show an object from one side, with modeling and shadows to give the illusion of depth.

Cubism, OTOH, attempts to show multiple views of the same object at once, or pieces of those views. I thinks sometimes of a mechanical drawing that shows front, side and top elevation, but snipped up into pieces and rejoined oddly.

I always liked Braque better than Picasso's cubist works. It's a pity that he is less associated with the style he invented than his more famous collaborator. I prefer Braque's more limited color palette to Picasso's garishness.

[Prod Convert]

Firebird is remarkable too. Maybe that marks Stravinsky's homage to Rimsky-Korsakoff and the looming end of the Czarist Russia. Thanks for this wonderful series.

[Argh]

According to a photo and blurb on the front of Canada's National Post this morning, a painting by a chimpanzee sold for $32,000 while a Cezanne and Renoir at the same sale were withdrawn for lack of interest. Here's a link to a story before the sale. And here's the painting:

[Argh]

Stravinsky is supposed to have said that Vivaldi composed the same concerto 550 times. Hah! Comment not on the mote in thy neighbour's eye, Igor, but look to the mote in thine own, or whatever. Stravinsky's post-Rite music contains a hell of a lot of passages where he seems to be re-composing The Rite of Spring. As much as I love The Rite, I find this a little tiresome.

[Liberty Valance]

Thanks for another interesting class Republican Professor. While cubism is not one of my fav's I'd like to thank you for posting Picasso's Three Musicians. It's quite amazing. As far as the classical music series I would like to learn about more than Vivaldi's 4 Seasons :o) I played violin for 4 years in public school but switched to drums so I could make money on the weekends in my younger rock and roll days. Thanks again.

[Republicanprofessor]

Cubism, OTOH, attempts to show multiple views of the same object at once, or pieces of those views.

You are absolutely right. I forgot that angle (pun intended) as it is the usual way that Cubism is taught. The piece I like that shows this is a portrait of Picasso's dealer, Ambroise Vollard. Note how the bald head is emphasized. It shows intelligence, for Vollard could sell these early Picassos. Nowadays, with all the anti-balding products on the market nowadays, one might wonder that Vollard was not more self-conscious of his baldness.

Picasso Ambroise Vollard 1911

Note also that Vollard is a big man (I think), and yet his lower body dissolves into the background. Otherwise, this has all the smaller, modeled planes and dull color of early Analytical Cubism.

[Republicanprofessor]

I have to listen to Firebird more. I get into Stravinsky when I teach an interdisciplinary humanities course, and then I don't listen to him for a while.

[Republicanprofessor]

Well, I really dislike sensationalized stories of chimps and 4 year olds and their famous paintings. They don't mean much to me. I think the best artists (and whether John O wants to put them over his sofa or not, these include, for me, Matisse, Kandinsky, Picasso and many, many more) have something to "say" in their works, which I call content.

Chimps and 4 year olds may make pretty decorations, but for me they are not profound art nor are they worth $32,000. But gullible fools can be found everywhere. And we all have different tastes, and I may be proven wrong.

[Republicanprofessor]

Stravinsky's post-Rite music contains a hell of a lot of passages where he seems to be re-composing The Rite of Spring.

Interesting point. I'll have to listen again to more later pieces. He definitely plays with broken, changing rhythms and the repetition of small parts of melodies (aka ostinati) in all his works. But they just don't have that raw, emotional impact from the Rite that I love so much.

[Republicanprofessor]

If you REALLY want to know more about classical music, the best series I can recommend is Robert Greenberg's "How to Listen to and Understand Great Music" from the Teaching Company. They are online and sell audio and video cassettes, DVDs and CDs. I love listening and learning in the car, so I get CDs. But the visual forms will show you more in terms of sheet music, pictures and history.

The Teaching Company has comprehensive sales every few months, and this series of 48 CDs, I think, is about $100 on sale and definitely worth it. Greenberg has a great senes of humor and will get you to HEAR. He's wonderful. (And so are the many other products of this company.)

[LexBaird]

I think the best artists (and whether John O wants to put them over his sofa or not, these include, for me, Matisse, Kandinsky, Picasso and many, many more) have something to "say" in their works, which I call content.

This is where we start to part company. Much of the celebrated Modern art, while allegedly having something to "say", does an entirely inadequate job of saying it. The more abstracted paintings become, the more impossible it becomes for a viewer to extract any content beyond sheer emotionalism, and Congo's paintings contain that. I find Kandinsky devolving toward Mondrian's mere divisions of space, and Pollack as inarticulate as that chimp. At the current end of that trail, you have rotting cows in museum showcases.