Cubist Analysis

Art Historical Context

**Cubist Analysis** by John E. Thompson, created in 1915, is a striking painting from the Smithsonian American Museum's collection, acquired through museum purchase. This work captures the early 20th-century fervor for modernist experimentation in the United States, just as European avant-garde ideas began rippling across the Atlantic following the landmark Armory Show of 1913. Thompson's piece, classified as an abstract figure study, reflects the bold spirit of that era, when American artists eagerly explored radical new forms. The title *Cubist Analysis* directly nods to Analytic Cubism, a ...