Area 11 News
Picasso and Braque Challenged, Created Anew
by Donna Binderup, past ESU 11 Representative
Role of the Artist: To stretch one’s ability to see; create an innovative way of seeing.
In February art educators in the ESU 11 area were treated to an exceptional presentation by Christy Kosmicki, NATA Board Secretary, at the educational service unit in Holdrege. Kosmicki’s workshop was entitled New Ways of Seeing Picasso and Braque and the Cubist Revolution.
Kosmicki gave us a review of the historical, technological, and scientific happenings of the early 1900’s when Picasso and Braque were changing not only the look but the nature of art. Paris, considered the cultural and industrial center of the world hosted The World’s Fair. The Wright brothers introduced the airplane and x-rays were developed. Einstein declared the theory of space and time; matter and energy. Freud published his theories about human unconscious instincts.
Kosmicki compared the artists Picasso and Braque. Picasso being Spanish, Braque French. Picasso’s art was influenced by the Impressionist Toulouse-Latrec, and Oceanic and African sculpture. Braque’s art was influenced by Matisse, the Fauves and Cezanne. Picasso was flamboyant, self assured and a ladies man while Braque was a reserved, quiet gentleman. While Braque introduced most of the new artistic inventions Picasso carried the artistic inventions to their fullest. Both artist reduced objects into simplified shapes (cubes), abandoned traditional perspective and showed multiple or simultaneous views of their objects.
Picasso and Braque introduced stenciling of letters or words into their paintings and mixed sand into their paint for additional texture. They also used the collage method and added newspaper, wallpaper, music sheets, cardboard, and faux wood graining textures; they faceted and fragmented forms.
Kosmicki showed a wonderful video on Picasso and Braque and the Cubistic Revolution (recommended for secondary or college level students). She showed endless examples she had made on simplifying shapes and using a grid like scaffolding imposed upon the subject. She also showed different techniques for working our cubistic drawings.
Her presentation made teaching cubism a lot clearer and more exciting for all of the participants.
When you hear about opportunities such as this, try your best to attend, as they offer enrichment and professional development. Sessions like this are especially important for those of us that are a bit separated by the miles of roads in Nebraska.