Picasso and Braque: The Cubist Experiment 1910-1912, Santa Barbara Art Museum
The Santa Barbara Museum of Art and the Kimbell Art Museum of Fort Worth assembled this small but eye-opening show entitled Picasso and Braque: The Cubist Experiment 1910-12, covering the birth of analytical cubism, During those two years, Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque collaborated so closely (in their separate studios during the day, talking by night) that some of their monochrome, faceted artwork—unsigned as a matter of principle— are now difficult to differentiate, even by specialists. Picasso’s famous characterization of their partnership as roped-together mountaineers—presumably scaling the cold, clear peaks of art cited independently by later abstract painters Kasimir Malevich and Clyfford Still—still holds true. After the war (in which Braque was wounded), the two men were never able to work so closely. This aesthetically revolutionary partnership was examined in greater detail in the Museum of Modern Art’s 1989 show, Picasso and Braque: Pioneering Cubism, curated by William Rubin, a show that Golding labeled a curatorial “apotheosis.” That said, this smaller, more focused West Coast show, comprising some forty paintings and prints should still be seen by cubism fans and those trying to come to terms with this style, partly representational, partly abstract, which can seem forbiddingly austere, its humor unnoticed.
From the museum press release:
During the years 1910 through 1912, Picasso and Braque invented a new style that took the basics of traditional European art—modeling in light and shade to suggest roundedness, perspective lines to suggest space, indeed the very idea of making a recognizable description of the real world—and toyed with them irreverently. Eik Kahng, organizing curator and SBMA Chief Curator notes, “The works that these two artists produced during this two year period remain some of the most difficult and enigmatic in all of the history of art. In this exhibition, we hope to recover the excitement and sense of the unknown that we know they both felt. It is not an exaggeration to say that Picasso’s and Braque’s experiment would clear the way for an entirely new definition of the work of art, now freed from the task of imitation in the conventional sense. All of the greatest art to follow in the 20th century is in one way or another indebted to their achievement.” Following up on hints they found in the work of Paul Cézanne, and brimming with youthful bravado, Picasso and Braque created pictorial puzzles, comprehensible to a point but full of false leads and contradictions. Viewers pick up a few clues—a figure, a pipe, a moustache, a bottle, a glass, a musical instrument, a newspaper, a playing card— and these start to suggest a reality in three dimensions. The impression is that of a fast, modern world, with glimpses of models, friends, and the paraphernalia of drinking and smoking. But things never fully add up, either in detail or as a whole—and deliberately so. Teasingly elusive, the image is a construction of forms and signs that the artist has put together in a spirit of parody and play. The pleasure for the viewer is to let go of all normal expectations and enter into the game, which is an endlessly intriguing one.”
The catalogue features essays by Eik Kahng, Charles Palermo, Harry Cooper, Annie Bourneuf, Christine Poggi, Claire Barry and Bart J.C. Devolder that are well written and informative, but not aimed at the cubism newbie (though the wall labels in the show are quite good at elucidating the ideas, history and personalities). The illustrations deserve some mention because the digital process used will undoubtedly become a new printing standard for art reproduction. “Spectral imaging” replaces the RGB color filters of old with LED illumination adjusted to various frequencies. According to developers of MegaVision, “Because our eyes do not actually see colors in the same way that RGB cameras see colors, and because LEDs come in many different colors, more colors than just RGB can be used, resulting in much more accurate color images. And not only visible light is possible, but now there are options for ultraviolet and infrared which can reveal features invisible to human eyes. The elimination of the filters in the optical path allows for a higher quality image, greater accuracy of color, and most important in the art preservation world, a reduction of harmful light by a factor of 10-10,000----1000% and up ... The complex mark-making of so-called High Cubist or Analytical Cubist paintings is notoriously difficult to reproduce through conventional photography. The spectral images capture each brushstroke with astonishing fidelity, not only in terms of color but also texture.” Eik Kahng: “I firmly believe that spectral imaging is the wave of the future for museum best practices.... The spectral images we will show of Picasso’s and Braque’s paintings allow you to see the trace of the very hairs of the brush in the paint layer. They can be truly mesmerizing.” Squint all you want, but you will discern no dot screens in these amazing reproductions.
Picasso and Braque: The Cubist Experiment 1910-1912 runs through January 8.
Hans Hoffman, Simpex Munditis (1962), oil on canvas, at left. No info on the other two.
