Essay Example on Modern Art: Overview of Cubism

Introduction

The discovery and emergence of technology have moderately improved the possibilities of expansion in the artwork. Modern art therefore by a period of establishment bears a great influence on current postmodernism and contemporaries. As such influence as had by the modernist artists, a definite set of similarity is expected to occur between the modern and contemporary products of design, but moderately adjusted towards more quality and relevance to society in terms of problem solution (Ashby & Johnson, p. 8).

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These periodic transformations were marked by movements typically characteristic of a renewed approach to art and a major historic event in evolution. Based on the emergence of new technology, hence a new perspective, a radical approach that expands possibilities of art beyond limits became a necessity to create an abstract style of modernism.

Overview of Cubism

Joined by a common interest in Paul Cezanne's paintings, two great painters, Pablo Picasso, and Georges Braque came together to develop the idea of Cubism in Paris during the early years of 1907 (Heywood, p. 200). Cubist painters consequently developed a two-dimensional prospect of the canvas to provide an image of space in paintings. Instead of abstract nature of exclusive fore view, they reduced and fractured the objects to create geometric forms within a shallow space in relief form. Objects appeared realigned in space and multiple of vantage points included creating contrast.

Three phases; Facet or Pre-Cubism, Analytic and Synthetic Cubism occurred in the development of the movement, each characterized by own culture of attributes (Heywood, 201). In pre-cubism, characters, landscapes and still life were painted and aims set to reduce the motifs of fundamental geometric forms. Analytic phase, on the other hand, was a period of analysis in which natural forms were then reduced to basic geometric parts on the two-dimensional picture plane, color became almost non-existent with exceptions of monochromatic schemes and general forms such as spheres, cylinders and cones were focused on representing the natural world.

Lastly, Synthetic cubism comparatively to analytical had fewer planar schematism, less shading, flatter space and pushed several objects together unlike pulling them apart into planes in the case of analytical. A great variety of subject matter was merged with a characteristic introduction of surfaces, texture and collage elements on the canvas adding an important ingredient of fine design.

Factory, Horta de Ebbo 1909

This piece has a heavy draw from Cezanne in form and color. In it, Pablo takes pleasure in painting the topographical view of landscape features (Khan, p. 23). To serve the compositional structure of his work, he decides to include features not typically present in the village of Horta. Featuring the chimney in the background and the palm trees are, in fact, not really evidently present in the village but represented as situated beyond the factory building. The factory buildings are created advancing through space by sharp cutting edges and lines constructed geometrically to produce facades from a different perspective of angles. The colors used do not show much contrast but they depict a principal separation of features and distinction of location within the space.

Contemporary Cubism Cafe by Mischi92

This piece of work includes a lot of textures and shading, in which there appears to be a designed balance of combined wrinkled paper and cloth fabric. The coffee emerges as a liquid out of the spout and through the grey, triangle comes out as cubes that are later transformed into a liquid.

Comparison of Work

Contemporary artists have created a design of work primarily on similar features as those by famous modernists, based on objects, places, and people (Basiri & Mousavilar, p.78). In contrast, though, their work appears to display multiple views of the subject at a time, done from different angles. A general intention to reconfigure space is methodically done by reconstruction of the elements into a composition of planes, colors, and forms. As a result, the image shown concisely reveals the front, sides, and back of the elements in an interchangeable design.

As evidenced in the portrait of Horta by Pablo, in which sharp cutting edges and geometrical bearing of the elements portray reconstruction on the image, a similar outplay of features reveal in a more or less advancement the works of contemporary artists. In a bid to avoid over-reliance on color, geometrical bearings, and sharp angular edges to depict the spatial location of features, cubist contemporaries focus less on planar composition but more on vintage contrast on the color of natural space against the objects within the display.

In most contemporaries, space is not necessarily reconfigured and elements deemed interchangeable in the design as does in modernism but instead views the subject as the occupant of a fixed natural position that cannot be easily altered in terms of topographical bearing (Fruscione, p. 50). As a result, there appears to be a more precise definition of space and perspective of view, necessarily in terms of spatial focus by contemporary designers.

Conclusion

Modern and contemporary art can neither be exclusively reliant on special features nor be regarded as closely tied in compositional characteristics, but one evident feature is the fundamental basis of their construction. Whereas modern art began on specific descriptive features, contemporary art either took an adaptive part in development or reactive approach to the inadequacies of modern ideas. In such regard, there is a crosscutting similarity and far-fetching differences suggesting the idea that modern art has impacted the extent of existence and development of contemporary art.

References

Ashby, Michael F., and Kara Johnson. Materials and design: the art and science of material selection in product design. Butterworth-Heinemann, (2013): 5-20

Basiri, Faranak, and Ashrafosadat Mousavilar. "MODERNISM IN PERSIAN PAINTING AND STUDYING CUBISM ART STYLE IN THE ART WORKS OF THIS ERA." TURKISH ONLINE JOURNAL OF DESIGN ART AND COMMUNICATION 7.1 (2017): 77-86.

Fruscione, Joseph. "Teaching Hemingway and Modernism." (2015): 45-55

Heywood, Ian. "Cubism and the Iconic Turn: A Climate of Practice, the Object and Representation." The Handbook of Visual Culture (2017): 200-202.

Khan, Dhillon. "A Comparative Analysis of The Representations of Caribbean Landscapes in Select Paintings of Trinidadian Artists Donald'Jackie'Hinkson and Cynthia Mc Clean with Consideration to their Individual Inspiration, Style and Approach." (2018): 1-27