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How did Louis Vauxcelles help give Cubism its name?
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Georges Braque
Braque, photograph by Arnold Newman, 1956
The term "Cubism" originated from a derisive remark made by the French art critic Louis Vauxcelles.12
After Georges Braque had a series of innovative works rejected by the Salon d’Automne in 1908, he held an exhibition at the gallery of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler. Upon viewing Braque’s 1908 painting Houses at L’Estaque—which featured geometric, cylindrical forms inspired by the landscapes of Paul Cézanne—Vauxcelles disparagingly described the work as being composed of "cubes". This critical comment was soon adopted as a stylistic label for the movement.21