Abstract art is a movement of fine art, where a piece of art does not pictorially resemble its subject, but rather, signifies the subject to the painter. Cubism was an early movement in abstract art.
History
Cubism began around the year 1906 in France and continued until around 1911, later spreading to other parts of the world like Russia and North America. Artist Henri Matisse coined the term "cubism" in 1909.
Identification
Cubism is primarily seen in paintings, where artists take the geometric shapes observed in an object and then rearrange the shapes on a canvas. In late examples of Cubism, there are no discernible objects or figures, but simply patterns of shapes and sometimes letters, numbers and symbols like musical notes.
Features
Cubism often does not use any type of perspective when portraying a subject. In fact, cubists attempt to show all sides of a three-dimensional object at once on a two-dimensional surface.
Color
Early cubist works featured very little color and were done in shades of one color, such as greens, grays, blacks and blues. Later cubist works were more vibrantly rendered.
Famous Works
Famous works of Cubism include "Seated Nude" by Pablo Picasso, "Still Life with Violin" by Georges Braque and "The Wedding" by Fernand Léger.
