Recently, I watched the movie Picasso and Braque go to the Movies. This documentary opened up my eyes to cubism a bit, and made the concepts of cubism interesting to me for the first time. It isn't the type of art that strikes me visually as wow, I really like this, and it never grew on me either.
But learning how the very early movies influenced Braque and Picasso prompted some interest in cubism. The influence of the still images, repetition, and moving images of the early films that these artists watched can be seen in their work. They were big movie fans. Films were a completely new art form that they thoroughly scrutinized down to the cameras and projectors. The light source in some of the paintings suggest blinking light of early movies.
Many things were changing in this era, and a lot of new inventions were created during this time period and right before it. Picasso and Braque synthesize one of the big changes into their artistic mills and produce a new art movement.
Fan dancers were popular during this era, and they had created a sign language used sometimes while dancing. Some movements meant things like "meet me at four o'clock' and so forth. The fan dancers are featured in some of the early films, and Picasso is particularly interested in this. It is an art form of Spanish origin. His interest shows up in some of his paintings.
In the film, art historians and artists talk about the concepts of cubism in relation to early film. Their comments are very interesting. For fans of cubism or anyone trying to understand it, I recommend this documentary.
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