Puteaux group

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From left to right: Marcel Duchamp, Jacques Villon and Raymond Duchamp-Villon in Jacques Villon's garden in Puteaux, around 1913. Photo: Smithsonian Institution

The Puteaux group was formed by a loose grouping of various European artists (see list below) who were closely related to Cubism . The group was formed in 1911 when the participants met regularly for talks in the house of Jacques Villon in Puteaux (7 rue Lemaître) to exchange their views on the Cubist works of Braque and Picasso . The meetings took place until 1914.

The group became known through a much-discussed exhibition in the Salon des Indépendants in the spring of 1911 (see → Cubism / Puteaux Group ).

The name of the group was chosen by them themselves in order to distinguish themselves from the works of Picasso and Braque at the same time. Confronted with the cubist images, the artists felt aesthetically touched. Very soon they were devising theories to show why they were impressed by the pictures. So they tried to scientifically justify the cubist imagery of Braques and Picasso, its harmony and aesthetics . In collaboration with the painter, illustrator and art writer Albert Gleizes , Jean Metzinger wrote the theoretical treatise Du cubisme (On Cubism) , which was published in 1912 by the Figuière publishing house in Paris. In this writing, both emphasize the difference to the so-called gallery cubists Picasso and Braque. Only the artists of the Puteaux group are named as representatives of Cubism.

The works of Robert Delaunay since 1912 were called Orphism by Guillaume Apollinaire (see → Orphism ).

In 1912 Marcel Duchamp submitted his painting Nu descendant un escalier no. 2 (Nude, descending a staircase no. 2) to the Salon des Indépendants , where it was rejected by the other members of the group. In the history of art it is counted among the key works of painting of the 20th century, as it contains the new aspirations of futurism .

In 1912, some representatives of the group also formed the Section d'Or exhibition community .

The actually constituting members of the group were:

Regular participants were: