Jacques Barzun Covers the Cubist

¶ … Jacques Barzun covers the Cubist Decade in the third part of his best known work, "From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present," dealing with the period from Romanticism to the First World War. The Cubist Movement is, first of all, defined as a decadent movement.

The definition for a decadent culture or a decadent movement (a cultural movement as a subpart of a culture) comes from Jacques Barzun himself: "when people accept futility and the absurd as normal, the culture is decadent." In this sense, decadence, in Barzun's image, is associated with a certain deformation of sensibility with regard to the artwork that is observed. The decadence itself does not become a reality until the absurd artwork is accepted as being normal.

Until then, it is still a theoretical concept, an illusion rather than a presence. The Cubist Period seems to fit well into this decadent concept. First of all, it represents a break with any precedent period in art history. It is innovative, but, at the same time, outrageous, a break with traditional sensibility and a new approach to art representation. The entire decade from 1905 to 1914 is marked by a significant cultural turning point.

Even more so, the cubist decade is a primordial, defining experience for all art and cultural manifestations of the 20th century. In many ways, according to Barzun, the Cubist Decade was, first of all, simultaneous. It was indeed simultaneous through its various cultural manifestations, which ranged from painting to literature. Writers such as Gertrude Stein or Walter Arensburg are examples of cubist writers. Second of all, it was a populist movement. It was a populist movement both because of the creators and of the receptors.

The cubist art came in direct contact with the artist's sensibility and his expression and was a destructive connection with the inner feelings of the artist. Third of all, and most important, it was innovatory. The Cubist Decade broke away from all traditional representations of the subject and, by breaking it down into geometrical shapes and forms and by inventing angles that may have not been available, the transformation effect was certainly complete.

Resuming, the Cubist Decade had several characteristics that not only broke away with former perceptions, but, indeed, laid the path for future cultural manifestations in the 20th century. Its evident particular characteristics meant that Cubism would lead the way into the cultural 20th century. Of course, decadence is often a word tied to Cubism, as the first cultural manifestation where absurd art twisted the usual sensibility. Partially true, the decadent explanation is not a justification for the progress component Cubism brought about at the beginning of the century. b.

First of all, the simultaneity principle has a global perspective and refers to the applicability of cubism ideas and cubism principle to film, literature, music or drama. I have previously mentioned literature as one of the reflections of Cubism in other areas and have related to authors such as Gertrude Stein for exemplification. On the other hand, the film industry of the period from 1905 to 1914 marks certain progresses, both from an interpretative and technological aspect.

The beginning of the 20th century marks the work of George Melies, a former successful magician who was considered one of the pioneers of cinema and film. Starting with him, we are already deemed to see the populist principle in the film industry: a show for the people, designed to reflect their inner beliefs and satisfy their needs. On the other hand, George Melies was also innovative and creative, bringing the film industry to face a beginning which would reflect over the next hundred of years.

As the visionary he was, Barzun marks Cubism and the Cubist Decade as the Renaissance spirit of the 20th century. Innovative and outrageous, breaking with the traditional forms of representation, universal in its expression and creation, Cubism was the sparkle that lit the flame, in all cultural areas, to the manifestations of the 20th century. c. If we look at modern culture and modern technology, the first connection that can be made with Cubist culture characteristics is its populist nature.

We are free to state that the modern culture has gained a populist reverberation and that it is created for the masses. It has lost its elitism and its way of addressing a specific, well-determined and well-defined segment of consumers. If we look at art history from Barzun's perspective, after the Renaissance, art and culture has gradually lost its elitism, its normality and sensibility. In the Renaissance, portraits were usually painted only on request from important persons who could afford one. Plays and performances had a limited auditorium.

It was Shakespeare who started to produce the first mass shows and the process has gradually assimilated all other forms of manifestation. As such, in the beginning of the 21st century, art and culture in general are more populist that ever and modern technology helps propagate this deep in the masses. Let's take the film industry, for example. The fact that a film is produced with the numerous special effects is destined to impact the masses and, intrinsically, determine and manipulate their reaction to the movie.

The role of modern technology in the production of modern cultural elements has become essential and we have reached a point where the success of a cultural manifestation can be determined by the success the technical achievement has reached (we are referring to other cultural manifestations, such as the theatre, exhibitions, etc.). If we look at mass culture nowadays, simultaneity is also manifested at an intrinsic level and this is definitely something interconnected with modern technology.

Modern technology has achieved an universal stature and its use in cultural manifestations such as art festivals, cultural exhibitions, theatre representations, fashion shows or exhibitions may, at times, determine the actual success of the manifestation. People have begun to associate a cultural representation with a necessary spectacular component. On many occasions, it is simple to associate the needed spectacular component with a technological representation which helps bring out the extraordinary.

In this sense, we may draw a certain correlation between the Cubist Decade and its need to break away with the tradition and reveal.