Description
The documents and texts surrounding any great artistic achievement have little importance except in relation to the works of art themselves. But taken together, the written and the visual records of an epoch reinforce each other; and through the verbal reflections of an artistic period we may approach its painting and sculpture directly on the grounds of the issues, problems, and dominant ideas of that period, instead of making judgments based on our own contemporary prejudices and interests.
Nowhere is such perspective more to be welcomed than in the study of Cubism, a movement which in its historical, formal, and aesthetic complexity continues to be misconstrued and misinterpreted even today by an often baffled public. Because Cubism is one of the foundations of twentieth-century art, much, perhaps too much, has been written about it, leaving the subject more muddled than ever. It is the purpose of this book to clarify matters by presenting in a chronological order the original documentary texts concerning cubist painting. Much of this material has previously been known only to specialists and is either rare or totally inaccessible in the original. As a result of publishing these texts it is hoped that both students of modern painting and the interested general public may find it easier to understand and appreciate one of the great artistic achievements of our century.
(taken from the Foreword by Edward F. Fry, 1964-66)
Among the pieces selected for inclusion in this book, are writings by Guillaume Apollinaire, Georges Braque, Gertrude Stein, Jean Metzinger, Jean Cocteau, Daniel Henry-Kahnweiler, Albert Gleizes, and Pablo Picasso.
Nowhere is such perspective more to be welcomed than in the study of Cubism, a movement which in its historical, formal, and aesthetic complexity continues to be misconstrued and misinterpreted even today by an often baffled public. Because Cubism is one of the foundations of twentieth-century art, much, perhaps too much, has been written about it, leaving the subject more muddled than ever. It is the purpose of this book to clarify matters by presenting in a chronological order the original documentary texts concerning cubist painting. Much of this material has previously been known only to specialists and is either rare or totally inaccessible in the original. As a result of publishing these texts it is hoped that both students of modern painting and the interested general public may find it easier to understand and appreciate one of the great artistic achievements of our century.
(taken from the Foreword by Edward F. Fry, 1964-66)
Among the pieces selected for inclusion in this book, are writings by Guillaume Apollinaire, Georges Braque, Gertrude Stein, Jean Metzinger, Jean Cocteau, Daniel Henry-Kahnweiler, Albert Gleizes, and Pablo Picasso.
