The Modern Still Life: Cubism and Colour

Contrary, or perhaps in paralll to, their revolutionary ambition, the 20th century avant-gardes often chose to rework and re-interpret the traditional subjects of art history. As such, the still lif, a mainstay since Roman times all throughout thne Dutch Golden Age and to Impressionnism, gets a special attention. 

Cubism in particular saw in the still life a perfect opportunity to formally experiment while effacing the represented object as much as possible, in an ambition to only represent "things". Picasso, Juan Gris and Braque amused themselves to rework the still life and the trompe l'oeil tradition in an game of both abstracting and refrencing reality. 

Both Marcel Janco and Fernand Léger were deeply familiar with the Cubist still life. For Janco, works by Picasso were both referenced in the Dada journals, and Cubist prints adorned the walls of the Cabaret Voltaire during their legendary representations in Zurich. Here, Picasso's cubism meets the Dada techniques of recuperation to create a surprising painted relief on sackcloth. If Fernand Leger joins the Cubist adventure as early as 1910, his Cubism is a deeply personal one. "Nature morte : bleu et jaune" is representative of his style from the 1930s: flat surfaces marked by vivid primary colours, almost a prefiguration of Pop Art.