''The Spring'' (or ''La Source'') is a large oil painting created in 1912 by the French artist

Francis Picabia Francis Picabia (: born Francis-Marie Martinez de Picabia; 22January 1879 – 30November 1953) was a French avant-garde painter, poet and typographist. After experimenting with Impressionism and Pointillism, Picabia became associated with Cubism ...

. The work, both Cubist and abstract, was exhibited in Paris at the

Salon d'Automne The Salon d'Automne (; en, Autumn Salon), or Société du Salon d'automne, is an art exhibition held annually in Paris, France. Since 2011, it is held on the Champs-Élysées, between the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, in mid-October. The ...

of 1912. The Cubist contribution to the 1912 Salon d'Automne created a controversy in the Municipal Council of Paris, leading to a debate in the Chambre des Députés about the use of public funds to provide the venue for such 'barbaric' art. The Cubists were defended by the Socialist deputy, Marcel Sembat.Béatrice Joyeux-Prunel, ''Histoire & Mesure'', no. XXII -1 (2007), Guerre et statistiques, ''L'art de la mesure, Le Salon d'Automne (1903-1914), l'avant-garde, ses étranger et la nation française''
(The Art of Measure: The Salon d'Automne Exhibition (1903-1914), the Avant-Garde, its Foreigners and the French Nation), electronic distribution Caim for Éditions de l'EHESS (in French) This painting was realized as

Albert Gleizes Albert Gleizes (; 8 December 1881 – 23 June 1953) was a French artist, theoretician, philosopher, a self-proclaimed founder of Cubism and an influence on the School of Paris. Albert Gleizes and Jean Metzinger wrote the first major treatise on ...

and Jean Metzinger, in preparation for the Salon de la Section d'Or, published a major defence of

Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

, resulting in the first theoretical essay on the new movement, '' Du «Cubisme»''. The painting forms part of the permanent collection of the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of t ...

, New York City. Francis Picabia, ''The Spring'', Museum of Modern Art
/ref>

Background

''The Spring'' is an oil painting on canvas with dimensions 249.6 x 249.3 cm (8' 2 1/4" x 8' 2 1/8"). It was executed by Picabia upon return from a road trip with two friends; the poet Guillaume Apollinaire and the composer

Claude Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most infl ...

, during the summer of 1912. During the trip, Picabia is quoted: "Are blue and red unintelligible? Are not the circle and the triangle, volumes and colors, as intelligible as this table?"

1912 Salon d'Automne

The Salon d'Automne of 1912, held in Paris at the Grand Palais from 1 October to 8 November, saw the Cubists regrouped into the same room XI. The history of the Salon d'Automne is marked by two important dates: 1905, bore witness to the birth of

Fauvism Fauvism /ˈfoʊvɪzm̩/ is the style of ''les Fauves'' (French language, French for "the wild beasts"), a group of early 20th-century modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the Representation (arts), repr ...

, and 1912, the xenophobe and anti-modernist quarrel. The 1912 polemic leveled against both the French and non-French avant-garde artists originated in ''Salle XI'' where the Cubists exhibited their works. The resistance to foreigners (dubbed "apaches") and avant-garde artists was just the visible face of a more profound crises: that of defining modern French art, and the dwindling of an artistic system crystallized around the heritage of

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passa ...

centered in Paris. Burgeoning was a new avant-garde system, the international logic of which—''mercantile'' and ''médiatique''—put into question the modern ideology elaborated upon since the late 19th century. What had begun as a question of ''aesthetics'' quickly turned ''political'', and as in the 1905 Salon d'Automne, with his infamous "Donatello chez les fauves",Louis Vauxcelles, ''Le Salon d'Automne'', Gil Blas, 17 October 1905. Screen 5 and 6. Gallica, Bibliothèque nationale de France
the critic

Louis Vauxcelles Louis Vauxcelles (born Louis Meyer; 1 January 187021 July 1943) was a French art critic. He is credited with coining the terms '' Fauvism'' (1905) and ''Cubism'' (1908). He used several pseudonyms in various publications: Pinturrichio, Vasari, ...

(Les Arts, 1912) was most implicated in the deliberations. Recall too, it was Vauxcelles who, on the occasion of the 1910 Salon des Indépendants, wrote disparagingly of 'pallid cubes' with reference to the paintings of Metzinger, Gleizes, Le Fauconnier, Léger and Delaunay. The Cubist contribution to the 1912 Salon d'Automne created scandal regarding the use of government owned buildings, such as the

Grand Palais The Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées ( en, Great Palace of the Elysian Fields), commonly known as the Grand Palais (English: Great Palace), is a historic site, exhibition hall and museum complex located at the Champs-Élysées in the 8th ...

, to exhibit such artwork. The indignation of the politician Jean Pierre Philippe Lampué made the front page of ''Le Journal'', 5 October 1912. On 3 December 1912 the controversy spread to the Municipal Council of Paris. A debate transpired in the

Chambre des Députés Chamber of Deputies (french: Chambre des députés) was a parliamentary body in France in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: * 1814–1848 during the Bourbon Restoration and the July Monarchy, the Chamber of Deputies was the lower house o ...

about the use of public funds to provide the venue for such art.Journal officiel de la République française. Débats parlementaires. Chambre des députés, 3 Décembre 1912, pp. 2924-2929. Bibliothèque et Archives de l'Assemblée nationale, 2012-7516
The Cubists were defended by the Socialist deputy, Marcel Sembat.Patrick F. Barrer: ''Quand l'art du XXe siècle était conçu par les inconnus'', pp. 93-101, gives an account of the debate.Pierre Lampué, ''Lettre ouverte a M. Berard, sous-secretaire d’Etat aux Beaux-Arts'', Mercure de France, 16 October 1912, pp. 894–895 * Francis Picabia, ''La Source'' (''The Spring''), 1912 (Museum of Modern Art, New York) *

Jean Metzinger Jean Dominique Antony Metzinger (; 24 June 1883 – 3 November 1956) was a major 20th-century French painter, theorist, writer, critic and poet, who along with Albert Gleizes wrote the first theoretical work on Cubism. His earliest works, from 1 ...

entered three works: '' Dancer in a café'' (titled ''Danseuse''), ''La Plume Jaune'' (''The Yellow Feather''), '' Femme à l'Éventail (Woman with a Fan)'' (Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York), hung in the decorative arts section inside ''

La Maison Cubiste ''La Maison Cubiste'' (''The Cubist House''), also called ''Projet d'hôtel'', was an architectural installation in the ''Art Décoratif'' section of the 1912 Paris ''Salon d'Automne'' which presented a Cubist vision of architecture and design. Cr ...

'' (the ''Cubist House''). *

Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painter, sculptor, and filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as " tubism") which he gradually modified into a more figurative, p ...

exhibited ''La Femme en Bleu'' (''Woman in Blue''), 1912 (Kunstmuseum, Basel) and ''Le passage à niveau'' (''The Level Crossing''), 1912 (Fondation Beyeler, Riehen, Switzerland) *

Roger de La Fresnaye Roger de La Fresnaye (; 11 July 1885 – 27 November 1925) was a French Cubist painter. Early years and education La Fresnaye was born in Le Mans where his father, an officer in the French army, was temporarily stationed. The La Fresnayes were ...

, ''Les Baigneuse'' (''The bathers'') 1912 (The National Gallery, Washington) and ''Les joueurs de cartes'' (Card Players) * Henri Le Fauconnier, ''The Huntsman'' (Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, Netherlands) and ''Les Montagnards attaqués par des ours'' (''Mountaineers Attacked by Bears''), 1912 (Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design). *

, '' l'Homme au Balcon (Man on a Balcony), (Portrait of Dr. Théo Morinaud)'', 1912 (Philadelphia Museum of Art), also exhibited at the Armory show, New York, Chicago, Boston, 1913. *

André Lhote André Lhote (5 July 1885 – 24 January 1962) was a French Cubist painter of figure subjects, portraits, landscapes and still life. He was also active and influential as a teacher and writer on art. Early life and education Lhote was born ...

, ''Le jugement de Paris'', 1912 (Private collection) * František Kupka, ''Amorpha, Fugue à deux couleurs'' (''Fugue in Two Colors''), 1912 (Narodni Galerie, Prague), and ''Amorpha Chromatique Chaude''. * Alexander Archipenko, ''Family Life'', 1912, sculpture *

Amedeo Modigliani Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (, ; 12 July 1884 – 24 January 1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France. He is known for portraits and nudes in a modern style characterized by a surreal elongation of faces, necks, and ...

, exhibited four elongated and highly stylized heads), sculptures * Joseph Csaky exhibited the sculptures ''

Groupe de femmes ''Groupe de femmes'', also called ''Groupe de trois femmes'', or ''Groupe de trois personnages'', is an early Cubist sculpture created circa 1911 by the Hungarian avant-garde, sculptor, and graphic artist Joseph Csaky (1888–1971). This sculptu ...

'', 1911-1912 (location unknown), ''Portrait de M.S.H.'', no. 91 (location unknown), and '' Danseuse (Femme à l'éventail, Femme à la cruche)'', no. 405 (location unknown) This exhibition also featured ''

''.

Raymond Duchamp-Villon Raymond Duchamp-Villon (5 November 1876 – 9 October 1918) was a French sculptor. Life and art Duchamp-Villon was born Pierre-Maurice-Raymond Duchamp in Damville, Eure, in the Normandy region of France, the second son of Eugène and Lucie Duch ...

designed facade of a 10 meter by 3 meter house, which included a hall, a living room and a bedroom. This installation was placed in the Art Décoratif section of the Salon d'Automne. The major contributors were André Mare, a decorative designer,

, Jacques Villon and Marie Laurencin. In the house were hung cubist paintings by

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...

, Roger de La Fresnaye, and Jean Metzinger (''Woman with a Fan'', 1912). In a review of the exhibition published in ''Le Petit Parisien'', art critic Jean Claude writes of Picabia's entries:

I believe that the record of high fantasy is held this year by Mr. Picabia. His two entries are entitled ''La Source'' and ''Danses à la source''. These are beautiful titles... The two paintings, I must say, do not accord with them at all. They are vast panels, on which have been drawn triangles, rhombuses, trapezoids, squares, rectangles, all crooked, and mixing in their inextricable entanglement the brown with the pink, the brick with the red nasturtium and the green bluish to reddish black. It's ugly. It evokes incrusted linoleum and it has no utility.Jean Claude, ''Le Salon d'Automne'', Le Petit Parisien, 30 September 1912, p. 2
Gallica, Bibliothèque nationale de France

Of works by Léger, Gleizes and Metzinger, Jean Claude writes: "Mr. Léger walked his brush on the canvas after having dipped them in blue, black, red and brown. It is stupefying to look at. The catalog says it's a ''Woman in blue''. Poor woman. ''Man on a Balcony'', by Mr. Gleizes, is more comprehensible. At least in the chaos of cubes and trapezoids we find a man. I will say as much for the entry of Mr. Metzinger, ''Dancers''. It has the effect of a puzzle that is not assembled properly".

References

External links

Agence Photographique de la Réunion des musées nationaux et du Grand Palais des Champs-Elysées
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spring, The Paintings by Francis Picabia Cubist paintings 1912 paintings Painting controversies Paintings in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (New York City)

Background

1912 Salon d'Automne

See also

References

Further reading

External links