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Art history: Understanding cubism

The Twentieth Century interest in "Primitivism" reflects the simplistic harmonies and pure forms of impression found in the art of ancient cultures. The primitive artist looked for inspiration from sculptures and masks of African and Polynesian origin. The artist could then use the influence directly or indirectly in creating his form.

This abrupt development in style had ties to classical art, as well as to the Impressionist and post-Impressionist periods. Cezanne, especially was the greatest contributor to Fauvism, Expressionism, and eventually Primitivism. He formulated valuable techniques with regard to the application of paint to canvas, using the primed canvas as a value in the painting and large flat brushstrokes for an expression of feeling and intensity. Cezanne also experimented with volume, and the illusions that an object's contours crated. For the first time, subjects were not represented on canvas as they appeared realistically.

In 1906, Picasso began painting female nudes in a manner similar to that of Cezanne. The figures were compressed and implored the qualities of monumental physical force. These grotesque limbs and bodies depicted an almost male physical strength, similar to those female nudes by Cezanne in Grand Bathers. Picasso's painting, "Des Demoiselles", whose title refers to prostitutes in Barcelona, worked on from 1906-1907 proved to be the painting that launched Cubism into 20th Century Art. It also marked the climax of primitivism in the 19th Century.

Picasso's fascination with primitive art had been influenced by African art which he probably saw in Matisse's studio, masks that had been purchased from Delain. In Demoiselles, the furious jutting angles of the torsos and limbs in violent, unpredictable patterns further emphasize the energy that animates the figures. Even the planes of the curtains in the background echo the harsh angularity of the forms. Here, the inorganic relates to the organic, in that except for the difference in color tones used in the nude forms, and the background, the planes and angles would not be as distinguishable from one another. These aspects of abstract relationships between contours of kind of space and volume by means of light and dark become one of the characteristics of Analytical Cubism.

The faces of the two nudes on the right of the painting profoundly express influence from primitive tribal masks. The contours of the nose are directly related to the Shic of Milan, which seems to generate the


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Art history: Understanding cubism

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