Nanopublication — Cubist Exploration in Dialogue with Masters

Claim 1: Cubist Exploration in Dialogue with Masters
I created this drawing to explore cubist representation within the [1] long tradition of guitar deconstruction established by Picasso [4] and Braque [5]. The work employs simultaneous viewpoints, flattened space, and geometric fragmentation—the guitar's body seen from multiple angles at once, its curves broken into overlapping planes. Through pencil's tonal range, I investigated how volume can emerge even within spatial compression.
Context
The cubist deconstruction of the guitar holds particular significance in art history—Picasso's 1912 *Guitar* construction and Braque's papiers collés established the instrument as a privileged site for investigating simultaneous viewpoints and spatial fragmentation. This drawing engages that lineage while working through pencil's specific affordances: tonal gradation, line weight variation, the ability to overlay and erase.
The composition fractures the guitar into overlapping geometric planes—body, neck, soundhole, and strings exist simultaneously from multiple viewing angles. The fretboard appears both frontally and in perspective; circular voids float free from their anatomical positions. Shading creates localized volumes within flattened spatial relationships. This is not illustration but spatial investigation: testing how a recognizable form can be dismantled and reassembled within the picture plane while maintaining its conceptual identity as "guitar."
The work belongs to Mediterranean Echoes [2], a collection drawing from cultural memory and symbolic forms. Here, the guitar functions less as musical instrument than as inherited geometric problem—a sculptural vocabulary passed down through modernist tradition.
References
[1] Arnaud Quercy (2022). The guitar, Inspiration — Catalog raisonné. https://arnaudquercy.art/en/catalogue-raisonne/AQC0383.html
[2] Quercy, A. (2022). Mediterranean Echoes collection. Multimodal Institute.
[3] Quercy, A. (2022). "The guitar, Inspiration" (AQC0383). Pencil on paper, 14.8 × 21 cm. Certificate #20221231-0053.
[4] Picasso, P. (1912). *Guitar*. Sheet metal and wire construction. Museum of Modern Art, New York.
[5] Braque, G. (1913). *Guitar and Program: "Statue d'épouvante"*. Papier collé and charcoal. Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris.
Where this work lives
- Series: Songs of the Rambla
- Collection: Mediterranean Echoes
- Technique: Pencil
Exhibitions
- Transcendence – World Premiere of Ephemera Arts (2023-10-29 → 2023-11-15, Koblenzer Kunstverein e.V., Koblenz)
- Rencontres au Marché de la Création (2024-04-23 → 2024-12-31, Marché de la Création – Paris Montparnasse, Paris)
- Salon d'art contemporain – Metamorphose, Paris (2024-12-26 → 2025-01-05, Halle des Blancs Manteaux, Paris)
- Permanent Collection 2025 – Resonance in Form (2025-01-01 → 2025-12-31, arnaudquercy.art, Paris)
- Paris Studio Visit (2025-02-18 → 2025-02-18, Artist's Studio, Paris)
- Marché d'Art Contemporain – Seine Port (2025-05-17 → 2025-05-17, MAC Seine-Port, Seine-Port)
- Nuit des Artistes, St Germain-en-Laye, France (2025-05-24 → 2025-05-24, La Nuit des Artistes, Saint-Germain-en-Laye)
Other works in this series
- Morning cuddle
- A woman in her sundress
- The Woman Singing, Barcelona
- A woman on the beach
- The heart of the traveller
- Twilight Play - The Quiet Hour
- Quiet Embrace
- Terraces of Ronda - Ancient Path
Documented at
- Catalogue Raisonné — The guitar, Inspiration — The guitar, Inspiration — Cubist Pencil Drawing — Arnaud Quercy (2022)
- Gallery — The guitar, Inspiration
- Nanopublication — The guitar, Inspiration — Physical Specifications
- Nanopublication — The guitar, Inspiration — Sculptural Sketch—Investigation Suspended
- Nanopublication — The guitar, Inspiration — Digital Image Documentation - aqc0383_img_full_1536x2048_webp
Thematic Elements
Epistemic profile
| Claim type | artistic statement |
|---|---|
| Voice | first person |
| Epistemic status | first person account |
| Methodology | practice based research |
| Certainty | high |
Checksum (SHA-256)
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