July 01, 2005
an easy going cubism
Courtesy of Artrift
Juan Gris, The Open Window, 1921 Oil on canvas, M. Meyer Collection, Zurich
The painting highlights the way the cubists sought to show everyday objects as from different perspectives at once.
That concept is easy to grasp at an intuitive level is it not? Imagine a cubist painting of the ups and downs of a relationship over time.
That should undercut the traditional view of a modernist art alienated, or separated, from the everyday. What it does indicate is the critical turn made by art in the early 20th century: a negation of both organic synthesis (unity) in art and the mood of a romantically informed impressionism.
Have a look at Ben Nicholson's work from his time at St Ives. Drawings with whip-like lines suggesting an arc of bay or/and then defining the the rim of a jug. It's a wonderful sort of breakfast architectural landscape.