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Les Demoiselles d’Avignon – The breakthrough on Cubism
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon: five young women that changed modern art forever. Faces seen simultaneously from the front and in profile, angular bodies whose once voluptuous feminine forms disappear behind asymmetric lines - with this work, Picasso revolutionised the entire history of painting. Cubism was thus born in 1907.
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Is Cubism Just Art in Cubes?
Exhibition: Le Cubisme Date: 17 Oct 2018 to 25 Feb 2019 Venue: Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris In 1907, one painting signalled the prelude to a change in painting: Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. When Pablo Picasso first exhibited this bordello scene with five female figures, even the collector Sergei Shchukin and his friend Georges Braque considered the painting to be “a loss for French painting”. However, the significance of this new view of reality was not lost on Braque. In this work, Picasso crafted for the first time a clear and rational lens without any aesthetic allusions. Taking Cézanne’s analysis of shape further, Picasso fragmented the forms into small cubes. It was the task of…
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[Part 2/3] Cubism: The Bermuda Triangle
From ancient history until the end of the 18th century, artwork was evaluated according to its content. The material from which the artwork was made played a subordinate role. The premise was that an idea in its most complete and ideal state is Pablo Picasso immaterial; thus, to a great extent, the material is secondary to the idea that it is helping the artist to express. Materials were placed in the hierarchical order that was determined by how little they would impinge upon the purity of the artistic premise. Only in the 20th century did the aesthetics relating to materials take hold. Material justice now became one of the criteria…
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Bone Chiller: “Between Two Mysteries” exhibition from the inside out
Sticks and stones break bones, but impressions and perceptions can surely work you over like a prisoner dropping the soap. What is reality but a messed up puzzle of colour and form that we imbue with our own individual meaning? Our world is the combination of mental and physical, and with each person infinitely different, there are endless possibilities for reality. The current exhibition, Between Two Mysteries, at Galerie Quynh in Saigon, leaps headfirst into the idea of our perceptions of the world and juxtaposes two seemingly disparate collections, Ink Kingdom by Truc-Anh and Lightning in U Minh Forest by Hoang Duong Cam, to slap the viewer in the face…
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Chagall Does it All: The James Franco of the Art World
Pickin’ it up, and droppin’ it like it’s hot, Marc Chagall dabbled in multiple art genres and mediums: Cubism, Fauvism, Surrealism, painting, stained glass, ceramics, theatre sets and so on. With his unofficial motto being somewhere along the lines of, “Yeah, imma do that, it ain’t no thang,” Chagall dominated the modern art world, sampling and emulating the wares of the majority of the styles of the times and subsequently rejecting them all to build his own – like a true master does. A genius with colour, Chagall employed a whole spectrum in, at the time, unimaginable ways. His quixotic depictions of dreamy subjects took shape in whatever support he…
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"Art must be an expression of love or it is nothing" – Marc Chagall
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The Hidden Beauty of Cubism
It was Ralph Waldo Emerson who said: “Love of beauty is taste. The creation of beauty is art.” However, there are many forms and styles of accepted ‘art’ which do not conform to conventional definitions of beauty. Take Cubism as an example. Many art enthusiasts, whilst acknowledging that the likes of Pablo Picasso and George Braque are masters of their craft, are confounded by Cubism. Abstract art may have this effect in the general sense, but there is something about Cubism which perplexes and befuddles the viewer.
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Why the Soul of Surrealism is in India
If all the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players, then where do the Surrealists sit? According to my imagined global map of where art movements should be located, the Impressionists are based in the South of France, the Blaue Reiter in Germany, the Nabis in Stockholm, Cubism in Iceland, the Old Masters (da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, etc.) in Italy, Aestheticism in Decorative Arts in Shanghai, Digital Art in Oslo, and Lyrical Abstraction in Tokyo. Of course, this is entirely subjective, but I think that certain countries, or cities, really do go hand in hand with the style or ideals that various art movements represent.
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Mastering Monochrome
The saying goes that “it” (the world/life/politics/beliefs/love and so on and so forth) is not black and white. But what if it was? Surely life would be a lot easier. Rules and expectations would be clear-cut and to the point. If the choice of colour was not an option, all decisions would be a lot easier, right? If we look at old films, photographs, TV, and documentaries which were shot in black and white, we hark back to what appears to be a graceful and elegant world. Simple, classy, well-organised and put together: even the music that accompanies the films/TV shows/documentaries evokes a simpler and more innocent time. I know…
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Chicago and Picasso
I have to admit, I’ve had a bit of a crush on Chicago for a long time. Not because it’s cold or windy, or for any of its sports teams. I’m not a fan of deep dish pizza; hot dogs gross me out for the most part. Al Capone is pretty big to speak of, I suppose, but mob ‘outfits’ strike me as excessive and silly. One positive note thus far: I’ve heard amazing things about O’Hare International. Oh, and since the Chicago Fire of 1871, the city rightfully boasts superior urban planning. So what is it that has me perpetually itching to check out this mid-western city for an…
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