More on Cubism

“Lost Generation” of Writers and Cubism in Art

"Thesis: Cubism and the "lost generation" of writers dis-unified America in the 1920's. Cubism revolutionized traditional artwork and set the precedence for modern art.
The "lost generation" showed the disillusionment in post war America; these writers criticized and separated themselves from the main stream American lifestyle, going so far as to move to Paris to escape.

"une génération perdue" (Gertrude Stein)




 

Key Authors:




Ernest Hemingway

Books (Hemingway):

"The Sun Also Rises"

"A Farewell to Arms" 

"The Old Man and the Sea"






F. Scott Fitzgerald


Books (Fitzgerald):

"The Great Gatsby"

The Beautiful and Damned"

"This Side of Paradise"







Erich Maria Remarque


Books (Remarque):

"All Quiet on the Western Front"

"The Road Back"









E. E. Cummings

Books (Cummings):
"The Enormous Room"
"Tulips and Chimneys"
"anyone lived in a pretty how town"





...one day anyone died i guess
(and none stooped to kiss his face)
busy folk buried them side by side
little by little and was by was...

"Dulce et Decorum est" by Wilfred Owen about World War One







Typical Themes of Lost Generation Writers:

Critical of American lifestyles

Portrays America as materialistic, shallow

Public is provincial and greedy

Demoralization, loss of religious faith by main stream America

Encourage pacifism and isolationism

War is pointless

Main characters lose sense of moral purpose, generally hopeless

Main characters, especially those from war, are physically and mentally wounded




After World War One, many people felt disillusioned with life and lost their sense of moral purpose. Some were tired of war and favored peace; others were mentally and physically scarred from the war or lost loved ones. These people felt isolated from mainstream America which had grown materialistic with the increase of consumerism.

This division was epitomized in the "Lost Generation" novels which differed from many other texts at the time that were patriotic and pro-war. They showed the division amongst "the lost generation" and America.

In post war conditions, these novels also showed the distinctions between classes such as in the "Great Gatsby". Also most writers felt so disconnected with American life, they moved to other places like Paris, to escape.

Example of pro-war sentiment, Meridith Wharton wrote in The Marne (1918), America "tore the gag of neutrality from her lips, and with all the strength of her liberated lungs, claimed her right to a place in the struggle. The pacifists crept into their holes."











Cubism:
Paintings that were far removed from traditional art styles.

Their subjects, be they people or landscapes, were represented as combinations of basic geometric shapes.

Showing multiple viewpoints of a particular image.

Cubist pictures are often described as looking like pieces of fractured glass.

The cubists were influenced most by the art of the painter Paul Cézanne.

It was Cézanne who began the move to look at the basic shapes in nature.
 
Picasso described Cézanne as 'the father of us all'.




Key Painters:





Paul Cezanne-Le Mont Sainte-Victoire 













Picasso- "Weeping Women"

--Pablo Picasso:
Pablo was one of the most famous painter of the cubists. He and Georges Barques were the ones who started the Cubism.











Braque- "Violin and Candlestick"

--Georges Braque:
He started the art Movement along with Pablo Picasso. Braque was mostly interested in developing Cézanne's idea's of multiple perspectives.































Juan Gris- "A Still Life With Fruit Dish and Mandolin"

--Juan Gris: a Spanish painter and sculptor.






 






Typical Aspects of Paintings:


Representing forms in geometric shapes (cone, cubes,etc)

Took 3-d images and represented them on flat planes

Various overlapping points of view Abstract Simplified forms of the subject, lacking great depth

Colors are decorative and do not reflect on the real color of the subject

Different materials and mediums for painting





Divisions:


Cubism caused disunion in the 1920's American life, because it was so outrageous and different from the traditional way of painting. The traditional way of painting was just capturing what was already there, like flowers, nature, dainty women, animals, etc. Cubism took these day to day life pictures and studied them for their basic geometrical shapes. thus, creating a whole new way of looking at the simplest and most regular aspects of life. The American culture was not all too acceptable of this kind of art form. Many of the mordern art and inspirations were taken from the 1920's when all of these ideas actually boomed.



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