FREE ESSAY ON THE CHAIN OF ART

THE CHAIN OF ART

The Chain of Art
Cubism was one of the strongest art movements in the 20th century that gave birth to many
other movements such as futurism and suprematism. The Forefathers of this revolutionary
way of painting were Pablo Picasso and George Braque. Although it may have seemed to be
abstract and geometrical to an untrained eye, cubist art do depict real objects. The
shapes are flattened onto canvas so that different sides of each shape can be shown
simultaneously from many angles. This new style gave a 3 dimensional look on the canvas.
The cubist movement gave rise to an extraordinary reassessment of the interaction between
form and space changing the course of western art forever.
The groundbreaking Demoiselles d'Avignon was controversial not only for the way the women
looked but also for the positions of the women. Although Picasso did not emphasize on
detail, he "saw that the rational, often geometric breakdown if the human head and body
employed by so many African artists could provide him with the starting point for his own
re-appraisal of his subjects"(Cubism 53). "The naked women become inextricably bound up
in a flux of shapes or planes which tip backwards and forwards from the two-dimensional
surface to produce much the same sensation as an elaborate sculpture..."(Cubism 54).
Futurism was an art movement, which was influenced by cubist art. Cubism showed no motion
it was futurism that was fascinated with machinery, transport and communications. In
paintings and sculpture, angular forms and powerful lines were used to convey a sense of
activity, this was a Futurist's way of showing motion and speed. One of it's innovator's
was Umberto Boccioni who said "We want represent not the optical or analytical impression
but the physical and total experience" (Futurism 101). "They now pinned less faith on the
power of new subject matter and strove to complement their colour divisionism with
fragmentation of the cubist sort" (Futurism 101).
Suprematism was influenced by cubism because of it geometric shapes but "suprematism was
not so much a movement in art as it is an attitude..." (Suprematism 138). This
non-movement was created by Kasmir Malevich's , "His elemental forms were designed both
to break the artist's conditioned responses to his environment and create new realities
'no less significant then the realities of nature herself'" (Suprematism 138). A
suprematist work, banishes every trace of subject, it used color and form and there
interaction to form a subject. While cubism had definite subject it was also the
interaction of color and shape that made the subject.
Constructivism was influenced by suprematism, this movement swept away traditional
notions about art, believing that it should imitate the forms and processes of modern
technology. "Often constructivism was overtly propagandist in nature: sometimes by the
placement of simple geometric forms in the kind of literary context which turns such
forms into representations..." (Constructivism 161). De Stijl was mostly influenced by
painters Piet Mondrian, Theo Van Doesburg and architect Gerrit Rietveld. These men
believed that art should strive towards complete harmony, order clarity in a constant
process of refinement. The works in this movement were of course geometrical, using
mainly square forms. The movement's forms were deeply philosophical and were rooted in
the idea that art should in some way reflect order.
All of these movements progressed from cubism (hence my title); they developed from
shapes into other worldly meanings. They all branched out to their own ways and fell to
their feelings and desirers. All of these movements developed from geometrical objects to
seem as a true form such as a body or face then turn into a geometrical form. All of
these innovators thought differently, they wanted to change everyone else's state of mind
and with their unlikely way of thinking they have. But we have become so accustomed to it
that we do not recognize it and take these powerful shapes and colors for granted.