Cubism & Picasso's Still Life with Chair Caning The Evolution of
Cubism Beginning in 1908, and continuing through the first few
months of 1912, Braque and Picasso co-invent the first phase of
Cubism. Since it is dominated by the analysis of form, this
first stage is usually referred to as Analytic Cubism. But then
during the summer of 1912, Braque leaves Paris to take a holiday
in Provence. During his time there, he wanders into a hardware
store, and there he finds a roll of oil cloth. Oil cloth is an
early version of contact paper, the vinyl adhesive used to line
the shelves or drawers in a cupboard. Then, as now, these
materials come in a variety of pre-printed patterns. Braque
purchased some oil cloth printed with a fake wood grain. That
particular pattern drew his attention because he was at work on
a Cubist drawing of a guitar, and he was about to render the
grain of the wood in pencil. Instead, he cut the oil cloth and
pasted a piece of the factory-printed grain pattern right into
his drawing. With this