The artists themselves probably didn’t know the exact sources they appropriated from anyway. I have grown weary of art historians and curators patting themselves on the backs for simply acknowledging that the Cubists were aware that artwork was made in Africa, but they don’t provide any context. When we illuminate the negative qualities we can learn from these mistakes, stop making them, and do better. The history of Modern Art is full of exclusion, bias, and at times it is just unfair. You may ask yourself, “Why does Klaire spend so much time addressing the unpleasant aspects of art history?” “And you may ask yourself, ‘Well, how did I get here?’ And you may tell yourself, ‘This is not my beautiful house,’” But, instead of continuing to reference the Talking Heads at an inappropriate time, I want to share that it is important to include the controversial aspects of history. She wrote, “…the majority of Africans from whose material worlds these objects were plundered are still kept out.” Azulay elaborates on this concept in her book Potential History: Unlearning Imperialism. ![]() Some of this work was made at the same time as Modernist art was flourishing in the West, but unfortunately the names of the artists from Africa weren’t recorded. These objects and works of art were ripped from their original sources, and the people who stole and collected the objects didn’t document the names of the people who created everything. According to Ariella Aïsha Azulay in an interview she did with Hyperallergic, museums in Europe and the United States were created at this time as a result of imperialist looting and plundering. Africa is a vast continent, with many different cultures and endless varieties of art created over thousands of years. I know that some of the Cubists visited the Trocadéro Museum of Ethnography, but I wish I could find more specifics, such as the names of the African artists or at least the individual countries of origin. There isn’t a fantastic record that is readily available. Cubists were also influenced by the vague notion of “African art,” and I wish I could provide more context but unfortunately I can’t find much more information than that. Cubists claimed that they were making art more real than anyone before them, and they wanted to show objects and models from multiple viewpoints at once.Ĭubism had multiple influences, and many of the artists credited Postimpressionist Paul Cézanne, who made paintings that incorporated multiple viewpoints simultaneously. This is also the style where artists would depict people with two eyeballs on the same side of the head and body parts in the wrong spots. Imagine a person shattered like a broken Rubik’s cube, and then the surfaces of the pieces were laid out flat, but all jumbled up. ![]() Cubism is easily identified as artwork that looks like it kind of represents a person or some objects, but the subjects are broken apart and rearranged in new and strange ways. ![]() Many people are familiar with it, even if they claim they don’t know anything about art at all. Whether you’re an artist, student, or contemplating what to add to your art collection next, I hope you’ll enjoy this episode.Ĭubism is a popular category of Modern Art. I’m your host Klaire Lockheart, and I’m pleased you’re going to join me for this intersectional feminist examination regarding the history of Cubism. Hello, my friends! Thank you for taking the time to listen to the History of Modern Art with Klaire.
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