Cubism

This apssage is about the development of cubism.

Lexile Level: 1010L

Categories: History People & Places Art & Music

At the end of the nineteenth century, transformations were going on throughout Europe. National economies were shifting from agriculture to industry. Faster, modern means of transportation such as airplanes and cars changed the way people thought about distance and other cultures. Politics grew more volatile, foreshadowing the mechanized violence of the first World War. Artists saw that so much of their world was new that they decided to make new kinds of art to reflect the turbulent spirit of the times. Cubism was one of these developments and referred to a kind of painting that featured the depiction of many different perspectives at once. Shapes poked through other shapes; the background peeked through the figure or object in front of it. These busy, abstracted images acknowledged the speed and pressure of turn-of-the-century life. Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque were the most famous cubist artists. They both painted other kinds of pictures, but their cubist work surprised and thrilled people as much as airplanes and factories did.