Cubists and Post-Impressionism

by Arthur Jerome Eddy

This is a steady, logical, natural growth, like the growth of a tree.

The process is to be noticed in painting.

First period, Origin: Practical desire to make use of physical.

Second Period, Development: The gradual separation of this practical purpose, and the gradual ascendancy of the spiritual element.

Third Period, Aim: The attainment of a higher stage in pure art; in this the remains of the practical desire are totally separated (abstracted). Pure art speaks from soul to soul, it is not dependent upon the use of objective and imitative forms.

We can distinguish all of these three stages in various combinations in paintings of today.

First Period: Realistic Painting. The realism here is understood to be such as developed traditionally into the nineteenth century—the practical desire to exhibit objective realities—portraits, landscapes, historical paintings, etc., in the direct sense.

Second Period: Naturalistic Paintings in the form of Impressionism, of the New Impressionism and Expressionism—to which partly Cubism and Futurism belongs: The separation of the practical aim and the general preponderance of the spiritual element; from Impressionism through Neo-Impressionism to Expressionism always increasing separation and always increasing preponderance of the spiritual.

Apparently in this finer development nature as such is no more taken into consideration; but this is only “apparently” so, for as a matter of fact nature is used as a motive, a background, a basis for the pictures, and if the attempt is made to separate the natural or objective part of the picture from the purely artistic, the result is the picture falls for lack of support.