Analytic Cubism

Analytic Cubism

The first phase of Cubism, from about 1907 to 1912. Analytic cubists reduced natural forms to their basic geometric parts and then tried to reconcile these essentially three-dimensional parts with the two-dimensional picture plane. Color was greatly subdued, and paintings were nearly monochromatic. The leading cubists, Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973) and Georges Braque (French, 1882-1963) initiated the movement when they followed the advice of Paul Cézanne (French, 1839-1906), who in 1904 said artists should treat nature "in terms of the cylinder, the sphere and the cone." Within just a few years, cubism as a method of investigation lost its intellectual rigor and became decorative and thus stylized. Nonetheless, its influence on the development of painting in the 20th century was enormous.

Analytical Cubism: Portrait of Wilhelm Uhde (1910)

One example of analytical cubism was the Portrait of Ambrose Vollard, in 1910

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