Synthetic Cubism was the second main branch of Cubism (the earlier being Analytic cubism) developed by Picasso, Braque, Juan Gris and others between 1912 and 1919. It was seen as the first time that collage had been made as a fine art work.
The first work of this new style was Picasso's Still Life with Chair-caning (1911-1912), which includes oil cloth pasted on the canvas. At the upper left are the letters "JOU", which appear in many cubist paintings and may refer to a newspaper titled "Le Journal". Newspaper clippings were a common inclusion in this style of cubism, whereby physical pieces of newspaper, sheet music, etc. were included in the collages. JOU can at the same time be a pun on the French word(s) for "game" or "play": "jeu" and "jouer" respectively. Picasso and Braque had a constant friendly competition with each other and including the letters in their works may have been an extension of their game.
Whereas analytic cubism was an analysis of the subjects (pulling...
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