A New Exhibit Maps Cubism’s End to an Explosion of Artistic Experimentation

Highlights of the Detroit Institute of Arts show include drawings and prints by Marc Chagall, Le Corbusier, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso and Diego Rivera.

Love it or loathe it, there’s no denying that Cubism paved the way for dozens of subsequent modern art movements, from Purism and Precisionism to Surrealism, and continues to inform abstraction in art to this day. As an organized artistic movement, it thrived from its inception around 1907 through to World War 1, when artists like Georges Braque were called into active military duty and Pablo Picasso re-embraced a degree of realism.

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Henri Matisse (French, 1869-1954). Horse, Rider, and Clown (Le cheval, l’écuyère et le clown) from Jazz, 1947, pochoir printed in color ink on wove paper. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, New Endowment Fund, F78.3. © 2023 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

What followed was a post-war artistic awakening centered around Paris that saw creatives from around the world traveling to the French capital for inspiration and community. Artists were drawn to the city’s cafes, studios and art galleries during Les années folles, as Paris once again established itself as an active center of culture. Alexander Calder, Kees van Dongen, Marcel Duchamp, Alberto Giacometti and others lived and worked here following the war, and perhaps unsurprisingly, new styles and movements flourished.

Archibald John Motley, Jr. (American, 1891 – 1981). Café, Paris, 1929, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Museum Purchase, Ernest & Rosemarie Kanzler Foundation Fund, 2018.71. © Estate of Archibald John Motley Jr. All reserved rights 2023/ Bridgeman Images.

After Cubism: Modern Art in Paris, 1918-1948, which opens at the Detroit Institute of Arts on August 18 and will be on view through January 7 of next year, looks at the city’s artistic community and its impact from the end of the first World War through the rebuilding after the second.

Marc Chagall (Russian, 1887-1985). Snow-covered Church, between 1927 and 1928, gouache and graphite pencil on wove paper. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase with funds from The Friends of Modern Art, 31.61. © 2023 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.

The exhibition takes its title from the artistic manifesto Après le cubism (After Cubism), written by Amédée Ozenfant and Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (later known as Le Corbusier), but in no way limits itself to the philosophies therein. Instead, After Cubism is wide-ranging, showcasing 120 paintings, prints, drawings and photographs from the DIA’s permanent collection that illustrate how the landscape of modern art changed in Paris—and then changed around the world.

Raoul Dufy (French, 1877-1953). The Spirit of Electricity detail, 1936–1937, watercolor and gouache on paper mounted on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Sara Lee Corporation, 1999.119.A. © 2023 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.

“Our new exhibition not only celebrates Paris as a central figure, but more so the artists who explored fresh avenues, resulting in works that continue to inspire today,” said DIA Director Salvador Salort-Pons in a statement.

Works by Marc Chagall, Fernand Léger, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Man Ray, Marie Laurencin and Diego Rivera feature heavily in After Cubism. Highlights include the oil painting of the Cafe Rêve in Montmartre by African-American painter Archibald Motley Jr., as well as the monumental watercolor painting, The Spirit of Electricity, by Raoul Dufy. There are also photographs by Ilse Bing, Brassaï, Claude Cahun and Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Claude Cahun (French, 1894-1954). Self-Portrait, ca. 1927, gelatin silver print. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Albert and Peggy de Salle Charitable Trust and the DeRoy Photographic Acquisition Endowment Fund, 1993.25. Albert and Peggy de Salle Charitable Trust and the DeRoy Photographic Acquisition Endowment Fund

“The artists of Paris responded to the changes of modern life, including rapid electrification, innovations in science and technology and new ideas about vision and psychology,” added DIA Curator of Prints and Drawings Clare Rogan. “Their approaches to artwork in the modern age still echo for us today.”

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A New Exhibit Maps Cubism’s End to an Explosion of Artistic Experimentation