Cubist Painting in Relation to 20th Century Modernist British Literature

Various Definitions of Modernism in Relation to Cubism

Cubism was a term coined in 1908 by Louis Vauxcelles to describe the modern art of Picasso and Braque. These artists refuted traditional perspective and broke the planes of the composition into interlocking facets thereby fragmenting and disintegrating the image.  (1)

An art style developed by Picasso and Braque in 1908, Cubism is characterized by the artist breaking down natural forms of subjects into geometric shapes, thus creating a new kind of pictorial space. Cubist work can portray the subject from multiple perspectives. This is in contrast to traditional painting styles where the perspective of subjects are fixed and complete.  (2)

An influential, 20th-century style developed by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, based on the simultaneous presentation of multiple points of view. (3)

Sample Cubist Paintings

Pablo Picasso: "Girl with a Mandolin" (4)

Pablo Picasso: "The Old Guitar Player" (5)

Georges Braque: "Fruit Dish, Ace of Clubs" (6)

Georges Braque: "Fishing Boats" (7)

Various Definitions of Modernism in Relation to Literature

Modern literary practices. Also, the principles of a literary school that lasted from roughly the beginning of the twentieth century until the end of World War II. Modernism is defined by its rejection of the literary conventions of the nineteenth century and by its opposition to conventional morality, taste, traditions, and economic values. Many writers are associated with the concepts of Modernism, including Albert Camus, Marcel Proust, D. H. Lawrence, W. H. Auden, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, William Butler Yeats, Thomas Mann, Tennessee Williams, Eugene O'Neill, and James Joyce.  (8)

Loosely, a term referring to experimental and avant- garde trends in literature and other arts in the early 20th century, which resulted from conscious rejections of traditional 19th century artistic conventions like realism and traditional verse forms. Some of the experimental forms include symbolism, expressionism, and surrealism, and some narrative innovations include stream-of-consciousness and multiple points of view. A problematic term, since we are always already in the modern moment.  (9)

Sample Modernist Literary Pieces

Virginia Woolf: "The Mark on the Wall" (10)

James Joyce: "Proteus" (11)