Which critic first used the term 'Cubism' in 1909?

Which critic first used the term “Cubism” in 1909? Louis Vauxcelles did so in print while reviewing Georges Braque’s work.

Vauxcelles was a French art critic known for giving avant-garde movements memorable, sometimes mocking labels. In a 25 March 1909 review in Gil Blas, he described Braque’s paintings as “bizarreries cubiques,” or “cubic oddities.” The phrase helped establish the language later associated with Cubism.

There is a small historical wrinkle: Vauxcelles had already referred to cubes and geometric forms in writing about Braque in 1908. The word “Cubism” itself became more widely used around the 1911 Salon des Indépendants, where several artists exhibited work linked to the emerging movement. Thus, Vauxcelles remains the standard answer, even though the terminology developed over several reviews rather than appearing in one single instant.

The movement’s leading innovators were Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, whose paintings fragmented objects and presented multiple viewpoints at once.