The Cubies’ A B C

Selections from a curious hundred-year-old children's book: The Cubies' A B C by Mary Mills Lyall and Earl Harvey Lyall (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1913) The Cubies' A B C is a mostly light-hearted jab at the Cubists in the guise of a children's book. Brancusi, Duchamp, Kandinsky, Picasso, and Stein are gently skewered in alphabetical order. The Lyalls sarcastically dedicate the book to The Association of American Painters and Sculptors, whose Armory Show introduced these artists to America. The scans come from Beinecke, but it's easier to scroll through the book at archive.org. "A is for Art in the Cubies' domain-- (Not the Art of the Ancients, brand-new are the Cubies.) Archipenko's their guide, Anatomics their bane; They're the joy of the mad, the despair of the sane, (With their emerald hair and their eyes red as rubies.) —A is for Art in the Cubies' domain." "B is for Beauty as Brancusi views it""C is for Color Cubistic ad libitum—" "D is for Duchamp, the Deep-Dyed Deceiver, Who, drawing accordions, labels them stairs...""E is for the Ego, intense and Exotic""F's for the Future for which Cubies hanker""G is for Gertrude Stein's limpid lucidity, (Eloquent scribe of the Futurist soul.) Cubies devour each word with avidity: 'Alone words lack sense,' they affirm with placidity, 'But how wise we'll be when we've swallowed the whole!' —G is for Gertrude Stein's limpid lucidity." "H is for Henri's young Red Top, the shaver""I's for the Cubies' Immense Intuition""K's for Kandinsky's Kute 'improvisations'""L is for Life that is 'still,' as they name it""M's for Matisse's Man'selle Marguerite""N's for the Nudes that the Cubies portray""T's for the Type of Tree Chabaud's erected""V is for Villon's musicianly lady""W's for Woolworth, the building so stable""X is the Xit, Xtremely alluring When Cubies invite us to study their Art""Z is for Zak's summer-time composition"