Jackson's Art on cubism
There are a number of inaccuracies in this narrative. I will name but a few as they come to mind and be as succinct as possible.
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Cezanne had nothing to do with cubism. His famous quote is in a letter to Émile Bernard on 15 April 1904 : "Traitez la nature par le cylindre, la sphère, le cône, le tout mis en perspective, soit que chaque côté d’un objet, d’un plan, se dirige vers un point central. Les lignes parallèles à l’horizon donnent l’étendue… Les lignes perpendiculaires à cet horizon donnent la profondeur." What is meant is to grasp objects "par leur milieu" not to break objects down into an [ abstract ] geometric space.
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In the context of this article I would assume the quote from Picasso about African Art having "no influence" meant on cubism - which is correct. It clearly had an influence on many of his other paintings but I can see no reason to disbelieve him vis a vis cubism.
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Oceanic art is also mentioned as an influence. Again I see no evidence for this at all, neither visually nor in the many volumes on Picasso. However, show me and I'll change my mind.
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Matisse was not a rival. Picasso was a generation behind him and never saw him as such. I believe it was Marie-Thérèse Walter (1909–1977) who mentioned this.
So where did cubism come from then - most likely from the broader Romanesque tradition of Iberian sculpture from northern Spain and southern France......