Orphism

Orphism (or Orphic Cubism). Terms coined by Apollinaire to describe a type of painting—a development from Cubism—practised by Robert Delaunay and some of his associates between 1911 and the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. The reference to Orpheus, the singer and poet of Greek mythology, reflected the desire of the artists involved to bring a new element of lyricism and colour into the austere intellectual Cubism of Picasso, Braque, and Gris. Apollinaire first used the terms in print in his book Les Peintres cubistes (1913), but he is said to have used them earlier in a lecture at the exhibition of the Section d'Or in October 1912. (Previously the word ‘Orphic’ had been used by the Symbolists.) Apart from Delaunay, the artists whom Apollinaire mentioned as practitioners of Orphism were Marcel Duchamp, Fernand Léger, and Francis Picabia (all members of the Section d'Or), but Franz Kupka, another member of their circle, was in fact closer in style to Delaunay than these three. Apollinaire described Orphism as ‘the art of painting new structures with elements that have not been borrowed from the visual sphere, but have been created entirely by the artist himself, and been endowed by him with fullness of reality. The works of the Orphic artist must simultaneously give a pure aesthetic pleasure, a structure which is self-evident, and a sublime meaning, that is, a subject. This is pure art.’ Although this is not very clear, it indicates a move towards abstraction, and by 1912 both Delaunay and Kupka were painting completely non-representational pictures characterized by intensely vibrant fragmented colours. Despite its short life, Orphism was highly influential, notably on the Synchromists, who also worked in Paris, and on several major German painters, particularly Klee (who visited Delaunay in 1912), Macke, and Marc. On 19 October 1913 the New York Times published an article entitled ‘“Orpheism” Latest of Painting Cults', emphasizing Kupka's role in the development of abstract art.