The 10 Year Plan: Museums in Paris: Centre Georges Pompidou #1 (Part 2 of 3)

Let's visit the Le Cubism exhibition at the Pompidou.

First, what is Cubism? "Cubism is an art movement that made its debut in 1907. Pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, the style is characterized by fragmented subject matter deconstructed in such a way that it can be viewed from multiple angles simultaneously." (Mymodernmet.com)

You might remember two posts about Cubism from Year 3 in D.C. In that pair of posts (click here and here), we viewed works in the National Gallery of Art by the father of Cubism, Cezanne, and the two leading lights of the movement, Picasso and Braque.

So, we were very interested in seeing the exhibition at the Pompidou. We were not disappointed. The exhibition was extensive. We expected a few rooms with some paintings, but we were happily surprised with room after room packed full of paintings by many members of the movement. (The building's architects were successful in creating expansive indoor spaces that can easily host extensive exhibitions.)

Let's start the tour with an introduction from the museum:

"The first exhibition devoted to Cubism in France since 1953, the project's originality lies in its unusual stance, broadening a standpoint usually focused on its two inventors, Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, to other artists. These pioneers, soon followed by Fernand Léger and Juan Gris, reserved their ground-breaking experimental work for a small-scale gallery run by a young unknown dealer, Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, while artists like Albert Gleizes, Jean Metzinger, Francis Picabia, Marcel Duchamp, Robert and Sonia Delaunay brought the movement to the attention of critics and the public through their contributions to the Paris Salons. The exhibition highlights the rich inventiveness and wide variety of the movement. Not only did it introduce a geometric approach to forms and challenge classical representation, but its radical explorations and the creative drive of its members also paved the way to modern art. Containing 300 works and documents illustrating the influence of Cubism, the exhibition is presented chronologically in fourteen sections. Various masterpieces stand out, like Picasso's Portrait de Gertrude Stein (1906), Ambroise Vollard (1909) and Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler (1910) as well as groups of paintings and sculptures never yet seen together. The exhibition circuit highlights Cubism's momentous, multi-faceted development, going back to its primitivist sources [such as African masks] and the Cubists' fascination with Gauguin and Cézanne. It also reflects the movement's formal journey from its initial Cézannian period – illustrated here by Picasso's extraordinary still life Pains et compotier sur une table (1909) – to a hermetic, analytical stage (1910-1912), before evolving towards a more synthetic version (1913-1917) with a return to representation and colour."

Someone with a sense of humor created this sign near the entrance to the exhibition.

You might remember this painting from the Cezanne portraits exhibition the National Gallery in D.C. The model in the painting is Madame Cezanne. She probably needs a second cup of coffee.