Cubism

After scientists began to realise that vision was not just the reception of sensations on the retina but sensations analysed by the brain to provide us with descriptions, artists began to play around with form and space in art. In the early 20th century Cubism was created by Picasso and Braque and became one of the most influential visual art styles of the century. Geometric forms, Primitivism and non-Wester sources such as African art influenced Cubism.

Pablo Picasso’s “Still Life with Chair Caning” is an unusual format as it is not a rectangle or square like conventional paintings, instead it is an oval shape possessing no sides; furthermore the frame itself is a rope, not a typical wooden frame. Picasso’s piece of work also seems like a jumbled form instead of a clear picture, creating a collage effect. However as the viewer we are able to understand what is shown by breaking down the information into parts. So if we look closely we see that Picasso has involved some dry humour into his work, for example we can just make out the first three letters of the newspaper “JOU”, which