Day 12 – Art or Laziness?

I woke up very excited today- my brother and his wife and toddler son are on their way to Chicago to visit us! I can’t wait for Baby Girl to meet her cousin! I was already bouncing around the house, but, I decided today would nevertheless be a good day to drink an entire pot of coffee. (But it’s only one of those little four cup pots. Don’t judge.)

I turned my jittery attention to Cubism. (http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cube/hd_cube.htm) As I believe I mentioned in an earlier blog, Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque are credited with creating Cubism between 1907 and 1914. (And, as I believe I’ve also mentioned, I’m not so much a fan of cubism or abstract painting styles). Basically, Cubism rejected the idea that art should imitate nature and instead focused on fractured geometric forms. At first, the subject of Cubist paintings was usually discernible, but between 1910 and 1912 “high” Analytic Cubism was popular and works were so abstracted that it was difficult to really see what they were- although popular themes were still lifes of musical instruments, glasses, and the human face and figure. Still Life with a Bottle of Rum, pictured below, is an example of one of Picasso’s Analytic Cubist works. Synthetic Cubism came between 1912-1913, and began with the technique of  papiers collés – placing large pieces of printed or colored paper into a composition to allude to a particular object. Man with a Hat and Violin, pictured below is an example of a work created using  papiers collés.

So, I think it’s important to say that, although I am not particularly moved by the Cubist works, I understand that it is art on purpose and there is some method to the madness. These artists were not just being lazy and “throwing paint on a canvass and calling it art,” which I feel is a popular thing to say when you don’t like this style. They were experimenting with a particular technique. That technique grew and evolved, and many of these works are considered serious works of art today and enjoyed by many people. So, even though this style is not exactly my cup of tea, I think it’s quite fair to say that their experimentation was not for nothing.

Do you enjoy Cubist works? If not, can you at least appreciate that there was an artistic effort being made, or do you think I’m crazy for thinking that such works are indeed masterpieces of art?

Picasso - Still Life with a Bottle of Rum

Picasso - Man with a Hat and Violin

Xoxo,

Diana