The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (125 page)

Cubism
.

Movement in painting (and to a lesser extent sculpture) developed by
Picasso
and
Braque
from about 1907 to 1914 and recognized as one of the great turning points in Western art. They worked so closely during this period—‘like mountaineers roped together’ in Braque's memorable phrase—that at times it is difficult to differentiate their hands. Cubism made a radical break from the idea of art as the imitation of nature that had dominated European painting and sculpture since the
Renaissance
, for Picasso and Braque aimed to depict objects as they are known rather than as they appear at a particular moment and place. To this end they broke down the subjects they represented into a multiplicity of facets, rather than showing them from a single, fixed viewpoint, so many different aspects of the same object could be seen simultaneously. The two most important influences on the emergence of Cubism were African sculpture and the later paintings of
Cézanne
. Picasso and Braque's work up to 1912 is generally called ‘Analytical’ Cubism; in this phase of the movement forms were analysed into predominantly geometrical structures and colour was extremely subdued. In a second phase, known as ‘Synthetic’ Cubism, colour became much stronger and shapes more decorative, and elements such as stencilled lettering and pieces of newspaper were introduced into paintings. Juan
Gris
was as important as Braque or Picasso in this phase of Cubism and Fernand
Léger
is often reckoned the fourth great painter of the movement. The First World War brought an end to the collaboration of Braque and Picasso, but their work was immensely influential. Cubism, as well as being one of the principal sources of abstract art, was infinitely adaptable, giving birth to numerous other movements, among them
Futurism
,
Orphism
,
Purism
, and
Vorticism
, and to personal reinterpretations such as that of Stuart
Davis
. Because it was concerned with depicting ideas rather than observed reality it has been one of the foundations of 20th-cent. aesthetic attitudes. Most of the prominent Cubist painters were also distinguished as graphic artists, and major sculptors who worked in a Cubist idiom included
Archipenko
,
Lipchitz
, and
Zadkine
(as well as Picasso himself).

 
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(1866–1934).
Canadian painter, whose work was influential in introducing
Impressionism
to his country. From 1889 to 1895 he worked in Paris and elsewhere in France, with trips to Venice and North Africa and he made two shorter trips to Europe before settling for good in Canada in 1902. His subjects included landscapes and city scenes (
Old Houses, Montreal
, Montreal Mus. of Fine Arts,
c.
1900). After about 1920 he lived in virtual seclusion in a cabin he built himself at Lac Tremblant in the Laurentian hills. His friend J. W. Morrice said of his work: ‘he gets at the guts of things.’

 
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Cumberland Market Group
.

Group of painters formed when the
Camden Town Group
merged with the
London Group
in 1913; it was named after 49 Cumberland Market, where Robert
Bevan
had his studio, and where he,
Gilman
, and
Ginner
used to meet. In 1915 they were joined by John
Nash
and later by E. McKnight
Kauffer
and C. R. W.
Nevinson
.

 
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Currier and Ives prints
.

Popular
lithographs
published in New York by Nathaniel Currier (1813–88) and James M. Ives (1824–95), who went into partnership in 1857. These lithographs, advertised by their publishers as ‘Coloured Engravings for the People’, represented almost every aspect of contemporary America, including sporting, sentimental, patriotic, and political subjects, together with portraits, landscapes, disasters, scenes of city life, of railroads, of Mississippi steamboats, and so forth. A number of artists, most of whom specialized in particular subjects, were retained by the firm to draw the lithographs in black and white; afterwards the prints were coloured by hand on a production-line system (one assistant to each colour) and sold cheaply to the public by agents, print-sellers, and pedlars. The business was carried on until 1907 by the sons of the founders.

 
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(1897–1946).
American painter. He was born on a farm in Kansas, and never forgot his Midwestern roots. From 1919 to 1926 he worked as an illustrator for pulp magazines, then spent a year in Europe, before settling in New York, where he was encouraged and supported by Gertrude Vanderbilt
Whitney
. He believed that art should grow out of everyday life and be motivated by affection, and his subjects were taken from the Midwest he loved. Two of his most famous works are
Baptism in Kansas
(Whitney Museum, New York, 1928) and
Hog Killing a Rattlesnake
(Art Institute of Chicago, 1930); they show his anecdotal, rather melodramatic style (he often depicted the violence of nature)—sometimes weak in draughtsmanship, but always vigorous and sincere. In the 1930s Curry was recognized—along with
Benton
and
Wood
—as one of the leading exponents of
Regionalism
, and he was given commissions for several large murals; the best known—generally regarded as his masterpieces—are in the state capitol in Topeka, Kansas (1938–40).

 
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