"CUBIST STYLE" APPROACHES TO ABSTRACT PICTURES

Charles Pinkney, Your HOST, (AKA, the Pinkmeister)

"Modern Art" had its beginning when artists began to depart from the natural appearance of things (realism).
Artists experimented introducing new ways of expressing their personal interpretation or perception.
Pablo Picasso with Georges Braque introduced a form of abstraction around 1907 and for several years continued to develop "cubism."
Many artists joined in making their own Cubistic images. These were employed in one form or another well into the fifties.

Some features of Cubism are listed on this page for you to try:
Overlapping images Simultaneous views Faceting surfaces Distortion and exaggeration;

Figure and Ground experimentation.

FAMOUS ARTIST, HENRI MATISSE, USED CUT PAPER TO MAKE IMAGES

Breaking up Spatial areas is the key to the modern art approach in drawing and painting.
Through abstraction we become aware that the entire picture space is important to the visual whole.

 

Break-up is the first task of design. The skilled artist thinks about the whole picture.
The artist is aware of and gives consideration to each and every square inch of the picture area.

20th Century Abstraction Abstraction:
Basic methods of abstraction repeat and overlap Shapes.
In a similar way Lines of Symmetry may be used to divide the picture space and penetrate objects.

Painters and designers often Repeat and Overlap Shapes and Feel free to Reinterpret the shape.
Figure and background interplay can be used. This means that both dark and light areas or shapes are of equal importance.
This is called a Positive - Negative design. Or Figure and Field Design.

Shape which is an identifyable thing.

Overlap the simple shape in an interesting way

 

Faceting:
Faceting is done by using more or less straight line segments to interpret the subject.
After drawing segmented contours (edges) one connects the points of the line segments together.
Finally add tone or color to each section (or surface).
Color or tone changes as it moves from one side to the other.
In the first example use see the breakup into faceted areas,

 

In the second you will see how color was introduced to produce a cubistic interpretation.
Picasso and Braque used this method in the early 1900s as they developed Cubism.

 

Early cubist works were also inspired by Cézanne and African Sculpture.