Picasso and cubism essay sample

There is a question as to why Matisse reacted to emotionally to the works of Braque. These early works were a virtual homage to the French master, Cezanne, and Matisse, according to Flam, was sympathetic to Cezanne. Flam attributes the adverse reaction to the obvious influences of Picasso and cubism in the Braque landscapes. Matisse was both repulsed and attracted to the departure from convention exhibited by Picasso and Cubism. Nonetheless, Matisse, says Flam, “… was put off by the aggressive and purposeful misreading of Cezanne that Braque’s canvases embodied” (63). Thus began a battle and in essence a love/hate relationship, between Picasso and Matisse, and was the beginning of the battle over how Cezanne, and by extension, Modern Art, would be perceived, and how Picasso would influence Cubism throughout the century.

It is generally accepted that Cezanne spanned the centuries, standing firmly astride both the 19 ^th and 20 ^th . During this period much of the art world was in a state of flux, while Cezanne stood firmly as an anchor to those artists who understood his work. He went beyond the Impressionists and their virtual realism, but still he showed disdain for the rules of art, ignoring conventionally accepted ideas of perspective. He once commented that all of nature could be rendered in the sphere, cylinder, and the cone. It is little wonder that he was embraced by Picasso and Braque as a progenitor of Cubism. Thus it is that Picasso’s works, embracing Cezanne’s principles, heavily influence the Cubist Movement.

Vladimir Tatlin (1885-1953), Russian artist and architect, saw Picasso’s work in Paris in 1917 and carried it home to Moscow. Picasso, Tatlin observed, did not seem constrained by two dimensions. It was thus that his influence on Cubism spread beyond Paris, beyond France, beyond Europe, and the United States. Writer Jack Flam quotes a Russian art critic of the era, “ In the final analysis,” [comparing Matisse and Picasso] “ Matisse is a cravate , a colored necktie, in the words of Pablo Picasso, his opposite” (81). Matisse was a decorator, almost passé and virtually irrelevant. Picasso stood astride the world of Modern Art and made Cubism his own province.

Jackson Pollock, says Leonhard Emmerling, writing in Jackson Pollock: 1912-1956 , was fully acquainted with the Spaniard’s oeuvre, having seen much of the body in its original state. He had seen Demoiselles at MoMA , he had seen the monumental Guernica on tour, and had seen the 1940 MoMA exhibit, Picasso: Forty Years of His Art . It was artist and writer John D. Graham who first encouraged Pollack to study Picasso, says Emmerling, saying that the involvement was both fruitful and paralyzing. Pollock, says Emmerling, once threw a book of Picasso’s art onto the floor, screaming out, “ God damn it, that guy missed nothing” (28)!

Works Cited

Cottingham, D. Cubism: Movements in Modern Art New York:

Galenson, D. Artistic Capital New York: Routledge 2006

Herrera, H. Gorky: His Life and Work New York: Farrar, Strauss, and