Cubism and Pablo Picasso

I realise that this is a very important part of my project that I haven't yet documented on my blog so here is a big post on Cubism and how it relates to the visual style I'm going for.

Cubism and Pablo Picasso

Cubism has hugely influenced my project, particularly the works of Pablo Picasso. In many ways it is easy to directly establish visual connections between cubism and the work of artists such as Timothy J Reynolds considering the muted colours the contrast, the portrayal of depth, and the angular lines throughout that almost separate the image into different planes. Cubism is generally defined by a couple of things, firstly and most importantly is the representation of objects using simple geometric shapes and fragments, secondly another very important aspect of cubism is that cubists do not conform to any rules of art, pushing the convention of what was accepted as art was important to the cubists and had a big impact on the future development of other art movements. 

 

(Houses on the Hill, Pablo Picasso, 1909)

This piece, Houses on the Hill, is visually similar to new designs in faceted 3D, using muted colours, contrasting the lighter planes against the dark ones giving an illusion of depth and tying everything together by making sure even the sky has a hint of geometry.

 (Untitled, Timothy J Reynolds, approx 2012)

 

 There are two main types of cubism, Analytical Cubism focuses on portraying the subject from multiple angles, abandoning perspective to create a unique form, breaking apart the subject and then putting it back together in a new way (similar to deconstructivism). Many of the paintings shown are analytical cubism, the other type of cubism is synthetic cubism which combines many simple forms to create complexity within the image, usually combining multiple objects that create diversity within the scene. Though these two different styles cannot entirely be used to label types of cubism, considering that cubism doesn't follow any rules, many cubist artists combine these two methods.

(Dove with Green Peas, Pablo Picasso, 1911)

 

I really like the piece above because of the depth all over it, there is so much contrast between each plane and the shapes are so simple, there are really only two colours being used, creating unity within the painting.

 (Violin, glass, pipe and inkwell, Pablo Picasso, 1912)

Within my project I wish to push against the boundaries of 3D art in a similar way, in the same way that cubists didn't abide to the rules of cubism, I will probably end up ignoring a few rules of 3D modelling. The project is more about portraying things through simplistic forms and layering them together in a similar way to synthetic cubism.

(House in the Garden, Pablo Picasso, 1908)

'House in the Garden' shown above is a good example of colour in cubist art, in many cases colours are quite muted and often contrast each other. In this piece however the whole composition is depicted in tones of green. I think this method could be visually effective at portraying mood when applied to 3D and this is evident in games like Journey that represent moods in a scene very well by using lights and colour to create unity to ultimately evoke an emotion.

(The Reservoir, Pablo Picasso, 1909)

'The Reservoir' above is alike in a lot of ways to the faceted 3D style, notice the way every single shape, every plane is contrasting, the angular nature of the lines and the illusion of depth also have a part to play in making this piece really visually interesting. In many ways cubism and the faceted 3D style are the same trying to portray a landscape or scene through simplistic but well thought out works focusing on making it look visually appealing rather than realistic. 

Below are some of the other pieces of work by Picasso that have Inspired me but I haven't written about.

(Landscape, Pablo Picasso, 1908)

(Brick Factory in Tortosa, Pablo Picasso, 1909)