Cubist Figure Study — Musicians or Commedia Figures

Charcoal or black chalk on paper 

Circa 1920–1935

 the Cubist-Purist vocabulary that dominated the French avant-garde in the years between the two wars. The volumetric treatment of the figures — their forms constructed from overlapping spheres, cylinders and planes rather than observed anatomy.

The subject — musicians or theatrical performers on a chequered stage floor — draws on a rich seam of modernist iconography: the commedia dell'arte figures beloved of Picasso and Juan Gris, the jazz musicians that pervaded the visual culture of inter-war Paris, the theatrical and circus performers that served as metaphors for artistic performance and creative daring throughout the period