CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 3/12/2017

Cubism and War: The Crystal in the Flame

Around 1915, smack in the middle of the catastrophe of the First World War, a number of European artists began to produce work later categorized as "Crystal Cubism"—a style within the Cubist movement known for "sharp-edged clarity and the poised balance of crystal structure," in the words of Cubism and War curator and editor Christopher Green. The work refused to accept propaganda, refused to report literally on the inhumanity and carnage closing in on all sides. It insisted on its own Modernity. And yet, it must still be seen as "a response directly to that other, unendurable reality." Pablo Picasso's "Still-life with Compote and Glass" (1914-15) is reproduced from Ediciones Poligrafa's extraordinary new survey of Crystal Cubism. Printed on super-thick, deluxe matte paper and brimming with accessible scholarship and beautifully printed reproductions of work by Gris, Léger, Laurens, Rivera, Matisse and others, this is one of the richest titles on our list this season, already close to selling out.