Cubism and the First World War

The 20th century, consisted of many historical aspects and happenings, for example the first world war occurred in this era, as well as the improvement of the photographic camera, the first ‘movie star’ celebrities, and the introduction to such large art movements including cubism, futurism, abstraction, expressionism, constructivism, as well as more. 

Below are examples of some art pieces from some of these movements, In the respective order of Cubism, and Constructivism.

Figure 11

The image above is an example of cubist art, which (like the name of the movement) uses a lot of square, and cube like shapes to produce figures and images. This portrait of Pablo Picasso by the artist Juan Gris, in 1912 is a good example of a piece from the cubist movement.

Figure 22

This image above is an example of an art piece from the constructivism movement. Note how the lines are almost perfectly symmetrical on each side. This particular graphic above could suggest also an element of abstraction, since the shapes have no clear purpose.

This section will start off research on this time period, by choosing to firstly detail the camera. The invention of photography in this era, was a liberation to traditional artists, as there was no longer a large need for them to be as representative, especially now that optic technology had greatly increased since the introduction of cameras in the 1800’s. This lead to new genres of artwork to be introduced into society, and some of these genres included cubism, dadaism, futurism, modernism and abstract styles.
The improvement to camera technology allowed for photographic devices to become a lot smaller, becoming handheld and far more portable. This was a revolution for documentation, in such areas as conflict (mentioned later in research). It also allowed cameras to become more clearer, and with sharper, more refined images. If you compare an image from the industrial revolution, to photography of the 1900's, there is a definite difference.

The essay will talk about each two genres in this section, firstly talking about cubism. Cubism is an artistic form, which was developed in France during the very early 20th century. The movement was pioneered by such assists as Picasso, Braque, Gris and Léger.3 

Early into the cubist movement, it was often disregarded as an art form, and also made a mockery of. 

Another genre was expressionism. 

For the research task, the point of researching art of the documentation of the first world war will be noted. The last lecture research session touched on war photography, which was entitled ‘ Impressionism and Art Nouveau’. The documentation of war came with the invention of the camera, and as optics developed and the size of the technology shrunk, it meant for more portable imaging equipment, which brought about better mobility. Because of this, documentation of scenes such as a war, a very mobile situation, went up.

The First World War (1914-1918), began after the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, on the 28th of june 1914. This introduced the conflict known as the “Third Balkan War”. This conflict was caused as the result of the declaration of war on the country of Serbia, after Austro-Hungarian declared this on 28th july 1914.4

The conflict quickly became a worldwide affair in pre-UN politics, as a defensive pact between certain powers in Europe, created a divide between many nations. On one side the ‘central powers’ which comprised of Germany and Austria-Hungary, and the other, called the ‘entente’, which consisted of Belgium Britain, France, Montenegro, Serbia and Russia.5 The war lasted 4 years, and devastated Europe both financially, and politically. 

An example of art that was developed during the first world war, include the following example.
Figure 36 (below) is a piece by the well known artist Pablo Picasso. It was created in 1914, which was the first year of WWI. The piece is called "Bowl of Fruit with Bunch of Grapes and Sliced Paper". It consists of paper, gouache, pencil and sawdust on cardboard. It is held in St. Petersburg today. Interestingly the theme of this piece stems from the cubist movement, which was one of the emerging themes, at the time, alongside the list that was mentioned at the start of the research text.

Figure 3

The war finally ended in 1918, after an armistice was signed between the countries involved in combat. Notably it was the largest war at the time, before the Second World War, that was being documented by photography, as the camera was becoming more advanced in terms of portability, and quality, and this for example made it easier for war photographers to move about with the troops on the battlefield.

Below, I will detail an example of visual recording using camera technology, as part of the documentation of WWI. 

This image (figure 47)

Figure 4

Is of a photograph taken in 1917, and it features soldiers from the British forces, in a trench on the western front. This photo was taken toward the end of the first world war, and is a very good example of documentation.

This image depicts what seems to be an ongoing battle between British forces and enemy units.

In a comparison to an image I depicted in my industrial revolution research, which was entitled “The valley of the shadow of death” and was shot by Roger Fenton in 1855, you can see some major differences between the two. For instance this image unlike Fenton’s, depicts figures, and also shows the battle field  prior to battle. Roger Fenton’s image depicts a post battle environment, with a field covered in an array of many cannonballs.

Another example of WW1 documentation now, and this image (figure 58), is interesting because it shows the camera technology at the time of the first world war. This photo by an unknown photographer, displays what appears to be a soldier taking a photo of the battlefield, whilst in the background, there is a man aiming a rifle. This suggests the location of this image could perhaps be somewhere like a trench, especially how the armed man is resting on what appears to be a dirt bank.

Figure 5

Another example of photographic documentation in the First World War, include this image below (figure 69). The image is of Belgian carabineers, who at the time were retreating to Antwerp. The date this photograph was taken, was 20th of august 1914.10

Figure 6

Due to the retreating soldiers, this piece seems to be more on the side of photographic documentation, over propaganda.

References Used:

1. Figure 1: "Portrait of Pablo Picasso", Artist: Juan Gris, c1912, Cabanne, P. (2001) Cubism, Pg: 66. Paris: Editions Pierre Terrail.
2. Figure 2: "Pier and Ocean", Artist: Piet Mondrian, c1914, Rickey, G. (1967) Constructivism: Origins and Evolution. Pg: 36, London: Studio Vista.
3.  Cooper, D. And Tinterbrow, G. (1983) The Essential Cubism: Braque, Picasso & Their Friends 1907-1920. Pg: 10, London: The Tate Gallery.

4.  Beckett, I. (2006) Home Front 1914-1918: How Britain Survived the Great War. Pg: 206, Tundbridge Wells: Search Press Ltd.

5.  Beckett, I. (2006) Home Front 1914-1918: How Britain Survived the Great War. Pg: 206, Tundbridge Wells: Search Press Ltd.

6. Figure 3: "Bowl of Fruit with Bunch of Grapes and Sliced Paper", Artist: Pablo Picasso, c1914 Pablo Picasso 1881-1914 (2003) London: Sirocco.
7.  Figure 4: ‘The British army on the western front’, c1917, Photographer: John Warwick Brooke, Author: Book: ‘War photography images of armed conflict and it's aftermath’, Pg: 143, 2012, New Haven and London, Yale University Press.
8. Figure 5: "Untitled", Photographer: Unknown,  c1914/15, Book: ‘War photography images of armed conflict and it's aftermath’, Pg: 152, 2012, New Haven and London, Yale University Press.
9. Figure 6: "Untitled", Photographer: Unknown, c1914, Keegan, J. (2001) An Illustrated History of The First World War. USA: A.A. Knopf.
10. Keegan, J. (2001) An Illustrated History of The First World War. Pg: 85, USA: A.A. Knopf.

Alphabetical Ordered Bibliography:
Keegan, J. (2001) An Illustrated History of The First World War. USA: A.A. Knopf.

Beckett, I. (2006) Home Front 1914-1918: How Britain Survived the Great War. Tundbridge Wells: Search Press Ltd.

Cooper, D. And Tinterbrow, G. (1983) The Essential Cubism: Braque, Picasso & Their Friends 1907-1920. London: The Tate Gallery.

Figure 1: "Portrait of Pablo Picasso", Artist: Juan Gris, c1912, Cabanne, P. (2001) Cubism, Pg: 66. Paris: Editions Pierre Terrail.

Figure 2: "Pier and Ocean", Artist: Piet Mondrian, c1914, Rickey, G. (1967) Constructivism: Origins and Evolution. Pg: 36, London: Studio Vista.

Figure 3: "Bowl of Fruit with Bunch of Grapes and Sliced Paper", Artist: Pablo Picasso, c1914 Pablo Picasso 1881-1914 (2003) London: Sirocco.

Figure 4: ‘The British army on the western front’, c1917, Photographer: John Warwick Brooke, Author: Book: ‘War photography images of armed conflict and it's aftermath’, Pg: 143, 2012, New Haven and London, Yale University Press.

Figure 5: "Untitled", Photographer: Unknown, c1914/15, Book: ‘War photography images of armed conflict and it's aftermath’, Pg: 152, 2012, New Haven and London, Yale University Press.

Figure 6: "Untitled", Photographer: Unknown, c1914, Keegan, J. (2001) An Illustrated History of The First World War. USA: A.A. Knopf.