Synthetic Cubism (1912-14)

Following the Proto-type and Analytical stages of Cubism, the last act of the Cubist collaboration between Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso occurred roughly speaking during the two years 1913-14, a period known as Synthetic Cubism. Works from this period are more colourful and incorporate various extraneous materials. Picasso's and Braque's collages and papier colles influenced a number of other famous artists, especially the Dada school.

Still Life with Guitar (1922)
by Pablo Picasso.

From Analytical to Synthetic Cubism

In his earlier painting, The Portuguese (1911), Braque had introduced the use of stencilled lettering and in the following year he experimented with mixing materials such as sand and sawdust with his paint in order to create interesting textures. Picasso took this a stage further when he produced his first collage (Still Life with Chair-Caning, 1911-12), whereupon Braque quickly invented his own type of collages - The Papier Colles. He pasted pieces of flat material (eg. paper, oil and cloth) into his paintings in much in the same way as a collage, except the shape of the pasted pieces were objects themselves. He first used Papier Colle in Fruit Dish and Glass (1912).

Bottle, Newspaper, Pipe & Glass
(1913) by Georges Braque.

Synthesis

This process of incorporating everyday materials (newspaper cuttings, tickets, tobacco wrappers etc) into their paintings marked a move away from the austere cerebral abstraction of Analytical Cubism to the more relaxed and decorative Synthetic Cubism. In effect, this advanced form of Cubist art reversed the compositional principle of analytical Cubism. Instead of breaking down an object into fragments and then re-assembling them (analytical Cubism), the image was being built up (synthesized) from new elements and shapes. Moreover, the inclusion of these items suggested that art could be made with scissors and glue as easily as with brushes and paint - a liberating and most unconventional approach for those days. One overt consequence of this concern with greater surface richness, was that Braque and Picasso reintroduced colour to their painting.

Three Musicians (1921) by
Pablo Picasso.

Notable Paintings in the Synthetic Cubist Style

Pablo Picasso:
Still Life with Chair-Caning (1911-12), Picasso Museum, Paris.
The Guitar (1913), Museum of Modern art, NYC.
Harlequin (1914-15), Museum of Modern Art, NYC.
Three Musicians (1921) Museum of Modern Art, NYC.

Georges Braque:
The Man with a Pipe (1912), Museum of Modern art, NYC.
Fruit Dish and Glass (1912), Douglas Cooper Collection, France.
Clarinet (1913), Peggy Guggenheim Collection.
Bottle, Newspaper, Pipe, and Glass (1913), Private collection, New York.
Violin and Pipe (1913), Musee National d'Art Moderne, Paris.
Young Woman with a Guitar (1913), Musee National d'Art, Paris.
Glass, Carafe and Newspapers (1914), Private collection, Basel.
Still Life on a Table (1914), Musee National d'Art Moderne, Paris.
Still Life (1914), Art Inst of Chicago.
The Violin (1914), Cleveland Museum of Art

For works by other Cubists, like Juan Gris, see Cubist Painters.

For information on Cubist-style painters in Ireland please see: Mary Swanzy, Evie Hone and Mainie Jellett.

• For other art movements and periods, see: History of Art.
• For 20th century artworks, see Modern Art, its successor Contemporary Art and Postmodernism.
• For a list of schools and styles, see Modern Art Movements and recent Contemporary Art Movements.
• For styles of painting and sculpture in Ireland, see: Irish Art.

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