Cubist movement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Cubist movement - Essay Example This â€Å"something that can be conceived but not seen nor made visible† is often referred to as the sublime, a quality of transcendent greatness â€Å"with which nothing else can be compared and which is beyond all possibility of calculation, measurement or imitation† (Wikipedia, 2006). The presence of this sublime element, then, inspires the imagination in a specific direction based on which elements remain visible or understandable. Its significance is in the way in which it brings attention to the uncertainty of meaning inherent in the work, such that no resolution makes itself apparent. For artists of this period, the best way to achieve this sublime element was to forget the training they received in art school in order to recapture the sense of wonder and imagination reflected in art produced by children through the use of ‘primitive’ geometric forms. To understand how the sublime can be communicated through visual art, the work of cubist master Pab lo Picasso will be discussed in terms of materials, subject matter, content, composition, color and impacts of context or the time period in which they were produced. The cubist movement is now widely recognized as an early phase of the avant-garde. Author Peter Wollen recognized it in 1975 as a means of breaking the boundaries of traditional signifiers and make reference instead to the relationship between the signifier and the signified (Wollen, 1975). As this idea expanded, the traditional approach to art of making reference to an established set of symbols was further broken down and explored through abstraction and minimalism. The ultimate breaking down of this was the examination of how the art medium was able to communicate a world of transition and change, reality and illusion within the very context of its delivery. â€Å"What soon emerged as the dominant strand was