Focus on this artwork and analyze the Background.
Many of the leading Cubists were mobilized at the outset of the First World War: Georges Braque, Fernand Léger, Duchamp-Villon, Roger de La Fresnaye, and Jean Metzinger, yet despite the radical interruption, they were able to continue producing styles of Cubism that extended beyond pre-war attitudes. Cubism evolved as a result of both nationalistic pressures and from the evasion of the atrocities of war. There came the need to diverge further away from the representation of things. As the divide between art and life grew, the need for a process of distillation (a process of purification) became increasingly ubiquitous across the spectrum of Cubist activity. Orderly qualities and autonomous purity became a prime concern. This tendency toward wholesale geometric abstraction from 1914 through the mid-1920s has been linked to broader ideological shift towards conservatism in both French society and culture.Metzinger served very close to the front during World War I, as a medical aide, and was possibly with his surgical automobile when he painted Soldier at a Game of Chess (though evidence suggests the work may have been painted prior to his mobilization). However, very few of his works represent scenes associated with war. And rather than delving into the actual carnage of war, this painting evokes an idealized theory of war. Instead, his interest is captured by mathematical rationality, order, his faith in humanity and modernity. The war, however, is very present in this work, by the presence of the soldier and his engagement with chess, simultaneously an intellectual game and a battle.
This period of profound reflection contributed to the constitution of a new mindset; a prerequisite for fundamental change. The flat surface became the starting point for a revaluation of the fundamental principles of painting. Rather than relying strictly on the intellect, the focus placed on the immediate experience of the senses, on the idea according to Gleizes, that form, 'changing the directions of its movement, will change its dimensions', while revealing the "basic elements" of painting, the "true, solid rules - rules which could be generally applied".Fernand Léger was mobilized in October 1914, and served as a sapper close to the front in Forest of Argonne. He drew the various activities of his comrades during his free time, with virtually no possibility of working on canvas. Between the autumn of 1914 and 1917 he was able to produce only one work on canvas, Soldier with a pipe (Le Soldat à la Pipe).Unlike the "Impressionism of form" and dissection of the subject by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, Gleizes attempted to create a synthetic art that incorporated social values. He strove to capture the absolute 'order' and 'truth' of his subject, believing in the Universality and superiority of rhythmic harmonies over subjective responses. These values had preoccupied the artist since his years at the Abbaye de Créteil, a self-supporting collective of artists and writers he co-founded during the fall of 1906 with Alexandre Mercereau, René Arcos, Henri-Martin Barzun, and Charles Vildrac.
Georges Braque in Roger de La Fresnaye abstract mindset René Arcos Forest of Argonne x Cubism Abbaye de Créteil Charles Vildrac Duchamp-Villon Pablo Picasso Universality Soldier at a Game of Chess Henri-Martin Barzun Alexandre Mercereau Jean Metzinger Fernand Léger