For this assignment I chose to look for a work by Georges Braque because in his chapter on Modernism, Pericles Lewis identifies Braque, along with Pablo Picasso, as the “founders of Cubism” (80). We have discussed in class how the visual arts of a time period both reflect and inspire the literary movements that occur in the same time, with extra emphasis on Cubism. Cubism has been of special interest to me since reading Glen Macleod’s chapter entitled “The Visual Arts” when he asserts that “Cubism, the chief break with the Western traditional of representational art and the most influential art movement of this century” (198). The painting I chose to close read is titled “Violin and Candlestick” and was created by Braque in 1910. The reason I chose a painting from 1910 is because I wanted to explore what Macleod as “Cubism’s seconds stage, known as Analytical Cubism, [which occurred] from about 1910-1912. During this period Braque and Picasso so thoroughly analyzed (or broke into smaller parts) objects that they became hardly recognizable” (200).

When I first look at this work, the first thing I notice is the color (or lack thereof). During my search I found that paintings by both Braque and Picasso stuck primary to shades of brown, grey, and black. I’m not quite sure why this is done, but I feel like since Cubist paintings are comprised of pieces that do not necessarily look like they belong together structurally so the unified color scheme within each painting may have something to do with keeping a sort of cohesion. Another thing I noticed was the prominence of sharp edges. With the exception of a few rounded edges, this painting primarily consists of sections that look like rigid blocks to me. It is almost as if the pieces don’t fit together but rather are piled together. Trying to find some sort of logical way to put the pieces of this work together reminds me of my struggle to try and understand the Imagist poetry we read for class by Ezra Pound, Mina Loy, and T.S. Eliot. I would identify both my fascination and struggle with these works as the inability to label what actually “holds them all together”. The poems by Mina Loy seem to have some sort of narrative-ish structure that gives her work cohesion similar to how I feel that the color scheme of this painting holds the price together.   

Beyond the ideas of unity and fragmentation,  Macleod also writes about the role of juxtaposition and multiple perspectives in Cubist art (202). I see this painting as multidimensional in the sense that it may look differently and elicit different reactions from each person who views it since it is not just a direct representation of a violin and a candle stick. The idea of different perspectives, not in reaction to a work but within a work, is very evident in Mina Loy’s poetry, for example “Costa Magic” where even as a class of experienced readers we could not definitively say who or how many people were speaking in the poem. This mystery builds mystery and interest in both the painting and the literature.  One final technique we have discussed in terms of both literature and visual art is the idea of juxtaposition or putting two or more varied ideas/objects side by side. I don’t know if I can necessarily identify why I think Braque chose a candlestick and a violin to be the focus of this painting, but I do remember reading how modern artists of all sorts sought to elevate everyday items through their art.