By 1919 the pre-war sense of the Cubist movement had been virtually
shattered. Paris was overshadowed by a strong reaction against those
visions of common effort and revolutionary construction which Gleizes
continued to embrace, while the avant-garde was characterized by the
anarchic and, to him, destructive spirit of Dada. Neither alternative
held any appeal for him and, with the Salons dominated by a return to
classicism, his old hostility to Paris was constantly nourished.
Gleizes' attempt to resuscitate the spirit of the Section d'Or was met
with great difficulty, despite support by
Alexander Archipenko,
Georges Braque and
Léopold Survage.
[1]
His own organizational efforts were directed towards the
re-establishment of a European-wide movement of abstract artists in the
form of a large travelling exhibition, the
Exposition de la Section d’Or,
in 1920; it was not the success he had hoped for. Cubism was passé for
younger artists, although Gleizes, on the contrary, felt that only its
preliminary phase had been investigated.
[2]
It was the revival of the Section d'Or which ensured that Cubism in
general and Gleizes in particular would become Dada's preferred target.
[20]
Similarly, an effort to organize an artists' cooperative received the
support of Robert Delaunay, but of no other major artists.
[1] The polemic resulted in the publication of
Du cubisme et des moyens de le comprendre by Albert Gleizes, followed in 1922 by
La Peinture et ses lois, within which appear the notion of
translation and
rotation that would ultimately characterize both the pictorial and theoretical aspects of Gleizes' art.
[3] His post-Cubist style of the twenties—flat, forthright, uncompromising—is virtually
Blaise Pascal's "Spirit of Geometry."
[1]
Gleizes was in nearly every sense a maverick Cubist, perhaps the most
unyielding of them all; both in his paintings and writings (which had a
big impact on the image of Cubism in Europe and the United States). He
developed a single-minded, thoroughly uncompromising Cubism without the
diversion of a classical alternative. During the 1920s Gleizes worked on
a highly abstract brand of Cubism. In addition to his shows at
Léonce Rosenberg's
L'Effort Moderne, the dealer-publisher Povolozky printed his writings.
His art was indeed backed by a prodigious theoretical effluence, most
notably in
La Peinture et ses lois (first published in
La Vie des Lettres, October 1922). Gleizes fused aesthetic, metaphysical, moral and social priorities to describe the status and function of art.
[20]
In
La Peinture et ses lois
writes Robbins, "Gleizes deduced the rules of painting from the picture
plane, its proportions, the movement of the human eye and the laws of
the universe. This theory, later referred to as
translation-rotation,
ranks with the writings of Mondrian and Malevich as one of the most
thorough expositions of the principles of abstract art, which in his
case entailed the rejection not only of representation but also of
geometric forms."
[2]
Flat planes were set in motion simultaneously to evoke space by
shifting across one another, as if rotating and tilting on oblique axes.
Diagrams entitled "
Simultaneous movements of rotation and shifting of the plane on its axis"
were published to illustrate the concept. His painting of 1920–1922,
submitted to the same rigor, were not Cubist in any conventional sense;
but they
were Cubist in their concern with
planimetric
space, and in their relationship (synthesis) with subject-matter.
Indeed, the abstract appearance of these compositions is misleading.
Gleizes had always remained committed to synthesis. He described how
artists had freed themselves from the 'subject-image' as a pretext to
work from the 'subjectless-image' (nebulous forms) until they came
together. The images known from the natural world combined with those
nebulous forms were made 'spiritually human'. Though Gleizes considered
his works as initially nonrepresentational and only afterwards as
denotational.
[20]
Before World War I, Gleizes had always been identified as a Cubist
avant-garde. And during the twenties he continued to hold a prominent
position, but he was no longer identified with the avant-garde since
Cubism had already been replaced by Dada and
Surrealism.
Even after historians began their attempts to analyze the vital role
played by Cubism, the name of Albert Gleizes was always mentioned
because of his early and important participation in the movement.
Gleizes had never ceased to call himself a Cubist and theoretically a
Cubist he remained. In many ways his theories were close to those
developed by Mondrian, though his paintings never submitted to the
discipline of primary colors and the right angle; they were not
Neo-Plastic (or
De Stijl)
in character. In fact, his works from the late 1920s through the 1940s
looked like nothing else that was being done, and indeed, they were
rarely seen in the art world because Gleizes deliberately distanced
himself from extensive participation in the Parisian scene.
[2]
Gleizes realized that his evolution towards 'purity' carried with it
the risk of alienation from the 'mentality of the milieu', but he saw it
as the sole means of arriving at a new type of art that could reach a
mass audience (just as the French murals of the 11th and 12th
centuries). In
Du Cubisme et les moyens de comprendre (1920),
Gleizes went so far as to envisage the mass-production of painting; as a
means of undermining the market system and thus the status of artworks
as commodities. 'The multiplication of pictures,' Gleizes wrote,
'strikes at the heart of the understanding and the economic notions of
the bourgeois.'
[20]
1920s–1930s
After World War I, with the support given by the dealer
Léonce Rosenberg,
Cubism returned as a central issue for artists. With the Salons
dominated by a return to classicism, Gleizes attempted to resuscitate
the spirit of the
Section d'Or in 1920 but was met with great difficulty, despite support by
Fernand Léger,
Alexander Archipenko,
Georges Braque,
Constantin Brâncuși,
Henri Laurens,
Jacques Villon,
Raymond Duchamp-Villon,
Louis Marcoussis and
Léopold Survage.
[21][22] Gleizes' organizational efforts were directed towards the establishment of a European-wide movement of Cubist and
abstract art in the form of a large traveling exhibition; the
Exposition de la Section d’Or.
The idea was to bring together a collection of works that revealed the
complete process of transformation and renewal that had taken place.
[23]
It was not the success he had hoped for. Cubism was seen as passé for
emerging artists and other established artists such as Marcel Duchamp
and Picabia, although Gleizes, on the contrary, felt that only its
preliminary phase had been investigated.
[24]
In addition to Cubists works (which already represented a wide
variety of styles), the second edition of the Section d'Or held at the
Galerie La Boétie from 5 March 1920 included
De Stijl,
Bauhaus,
Constructivism and
Futurism.
[25] It was the revival of the Section d'Or which ensured that Cubism in general would become
Dada's preferred target.
[26] The new polemic resulted in the publication of
Du cubisme et des moyens de le comprendre by Gleizes, followed in 1922 by
La Peinture et ses lois.
[27][28]
Following the death of Jules Roche, the Gleizes' had enough
independent income and real estate to pursue their goals without bowing
to material considerations, unlike many other artists. The Gleizes'
spent more and more time at the family home in Serrières, in Cavalaire,
and an even quieter location on the
French Riviera, both associating with people more sympathetic to their social ideas. Gleizes became active in the
Union Intellectuelle
and lectured extensively in France, Germany, Poland and England, while
continuing to write. In 1924–25 the Bauhaus (where certain ideals
analogous to his own were practiced) requested a new book on Cubism (as
part of a series which included
Wassily Kandinsky's
Point and Line to Plane, Paul Klee's
Pedagogical Notebooks, and
Kasimir Malevich's
The Non-Objective World[4]). Gleizes, in response, would write
Kubismus
(published in 1928) for the collection of Bauhausbücher 13, Munich. The
publication of Kubismus in French the following year would bring
Gleizes closer to Delaunay.
[1][3] In 1924 Gleizes, Léger and
Amédée Ozenfant opened
Académie Moderne.
[4]
In 1927, still dreaming of the communal days at the Abbaye de
Créteil, Gleizes founded an artist's colony at a rented house called the
Moly-Sabata in
Sablons near his wife's family home in Serrières in the
Ardèche département in the Rhône Valley.
[3][4]
Léonce Rosenberg, in 1929, commissioned Gleizes (replacing
Gino Severini)
to paint decorative panels for his Parisian residence, which would be
installed in 1931. The same year Gleizes was part of the committee of
Abstraction-Création (founded by
Theo van Doesburg,
Auguste Herbin,
Jean Hélion and
Georges Vantongerloo) that acted as a forum for international
non-representational art, and counteracted the influence of the
Surrealist group led by
André Breton. By this time, his work reflected the strengthening of his religious convictions and his 1932 book,
Vers une conscience plastique, La Forme et l’histoire examines
Celtic,
Romanesque, and
Oriental art. On tour in
Poland and
Germany, he gave lectures titled
Art et Religion, Art et Production and
Art et Science and wrote a book on Robert Delaunay but it was never published.
[3][4]
Installation shot of the Cubist room, 1913 Armory Show, published in the
New York Tribune, February 17, 1913 (p. 7). Left to right:
Raymond Duchamp-Villon,
La Maison Cubiste (Projet d'Hotel), Cubist House;
Marcel Duchamp Nude (Study), Sad Young Man on a Train (Nu [esquisse], jeune homme triste dans un train) 1911-12 (
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation,
Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice); Albert Gleizes,
L'Homme au Balcon (Man on a Balcony), 1912 (
Philadelphia Museum of Art); Marcel Duchamp,
Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2;
Alexander Archipenko,
La Vie Familiale, Family Life (destroyed)
In 1934 Gleizes began a series of paintings that would continue for several years, in which three levels are identified:
static translation, corresponding to his researches of the 1920s;
mobile rotation, corresponding to his researches into coloured cadences of the late 1920s and early 1930s; and
simple grey arcs
which, Gleizes argues, gives the 'form' or unifying 'rhythm' of the
painting. The level of 'translation' is generally a geometrical figure
evoking a representational image, unlike the work of the early 1930s.
These works no longer articulate the strict non-representation of
Abstraction Création.
Léonce Rosenberg—who had already published Gleizes extensively in his
Bulletin de l'Effort Moderne,
but had not previously shown much enthusiasm for his painting—was
deeply impressed by Gleizes' paintings (which followed from his 1934
research) at the Salon d'Automne. This was the beginning of a close
relationship with Gleizes, which continued through the 1930s and is
reflected in a stream of correspondence.
[4]
In 1937, Gleizes was commissioned to paint murals for the
Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne at the Paris World’s Fair. He collaborated with Delaunay in the
Pavillon de l'Air and with
Léopold Survage and Fernand Léger for the
Pavillon de l'Union des Artistes Modernes.
At the end of 1938, Gleizes volunteered to participate in the free
seminars and discussion groups for young painters set up by Robert
Delaunay at his Paris studio.
[3][4] Then Gleizes, in collaboration with
Jacques Villon,
conceived the idea of executing a mural for the auditorium of the École
des Arts et Métiers; the latter was rejected by the school authorities
as too abstract, but immense panels by Gleizes survive as
Four Legendary Figures of the Sky (San Antonio, TX, McNay A. Inst.). Other examples of this ambitious public style include
The Transfiguration (1939–41; Lyon, Mus. B.-A.).
Albert Gleizes, 1911,
Le Chemin, Paysage à Meudon,
oil on canvas, 146.4 x 114.4 cm. Exhibited at Salon des Indépendants,
1911, Salon des Indépendants, Bruxelles, 1911, Galeries J. Dalmau,
Barcelona, 1912, Galerie La Boétie, Salon de La Section d'Or, 1912,
stolen by Nazi occupiers from the home of collector Alphonse Kann during
World War II, returned to its rightful owners in 1997
[29]
In the late 1930s, the wealthy American art connoisseur
Peggy Guggenheim
purchased a great deal of the new art in Paris including works by
Albert Gleizes. She brought these works to the United States which today
form part of the
Peggy Guggenheim Collection.
Albert Gleizes, 1910, L'Arbre (The Tree), oil on canvas, 92 x 73.2 cm, private collection. Exhibited Salon des Indépendants, 1910; Salon de la Section d'Or, Galerie La Boétie, 1912; Manes Moderni Umeni, S.V.U., Vystava, Prague, 1914
Albert Gleizes, 1911, La Chasse (The Hunt), oil on canvas, 123.2 x 99 cm. Published in L'Intransigeant, 10 October 1911, "Les Peintres Cubistes" 1913, by G. Apollinaire, and Au Salon d'Automne, Revue d'Europe et d'Amerique, Paris, October 1911
Albert Gleizes, 1910–12, Les Arbres (The Trees), oil on canvas, 41 x 27 cm. Reproduced in Du "Cubisme", 1912
Albert Gleizes, 1911, Paysage (Landscape), oil on canvas, 71 x 91.5 cm. Reproduced frontispiece catalogue Galeries Dalmau, Barcelona, 1912
Albert Gleizes, 1911, Stilleben, Nature Morte, Der Sturm postcard, Sammlung Walden, Berlin. Collection Paul Citroen, sold 1928 to Kunstausstellung Der Sturm, requisition by the Nazis in 1937, and missing since
Albert Gleizes, 1912 (spring), Dessin pour L'Homme au balcon, exhibited Salon des Indépendants 1912
Albert Gleizes, 1912, Les ponts de Paris (Passy), The Bridges of Paris (Passy), oil on canvas, 60.5 x 73.2 cm, Museum Moderner Kunst (mumok), Vienna. Published in Du "Cubisme", 1912
Albert Gleizes, 1912, Landschaft bei Paris, Paysage près de Paris, Paysage de Courbevoie, oil on canvas, 72.8 x 87.1 cm, missing from Hannover since 1937
Albert Gleizes, 1913, Les Bateaux de pêche (Fischerboote), oil on canvas, 165 x 111 cm, exhibited Salon d'Automne, Paris, 1913–14, no. 770, Manes Moderni Umeni, Vystava, Prague, 1914, no. 44, Tel Aviv Museum of Art
Albert Gleizes, 1914, Paysage avec un arbre (Landscape with Tree), oil on canvas, 100 x 81 cm, private collection
Albert Gleizes, 1914–15, Portrait de Florent Schmitt (Le Pianiste), pastel, 36 x 27 cm. This is a study for an oil on canvas titled Portrait de Florent Schmitt, 1914–15, 200 x 152 cm (79 x 60 in.)
Albert Gleizes, 1915, Retour de Bois-le-Prêtre, wood engraving, 39 x 50 cm, published in Le mot, n. 20, 1 July 1915
Albert Gleizes, 1915, Composition, For "Jazz", Pour "Jazz", oil on board, 73 x 73 cm. In a photograph first published in the Xeic York Herald, later reprinted in The Literary Digest, 27 October 1915, Gleizes can be seen at work on this painting
Albert Gleizes, 1915, Broadway, oil on board, 98.5 x 76 cm, private collection
Albert Gleizes, Action, Cahiers Individualistes de philosophie et d'art, Volume 1, No. 1, February 1920
Albert Gleizes, c.1920, Figures planes (Trois personages assis), dimensions approximately 126 x 100 cm, location unknown. Exhibited Der Sturm, Berlin, 1921 (no. 927) and reproduced in Gleizes 1927, p. 97
Albert Gleizes, 1920, Ecuyère, oil on canvas, 130 x 93 cm, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen. Published in Broom, An International Magazine of the Arts, November 1921
Albert Gleizes, Woman and child (Femme et enfant, Frau und Kind), Der Sturm, 5 October 1921
Albert Gleizes, study for Femme au gants noirs, drawing (zeichnung), published on the cover of Der Sturm, 5 June 1920
Albert Gleizes, untitled, drawing (zeichnung), published in the cover of Der Sturm, 5 June 1920
Albert Gleizes, c.1920, L'Homme dans les maisons, cover illustration of La Vie des Lettres et des Arts, Jacques Povolozky & Cie, Paris, 1920
Albert Gleizes, c.1920, L'Homme dans les maisons. Cover illustration La Vie des Lettres et des Arts, 1920, reproduced in The Little Review, A Magazine of the Arts, Vol. 7, No. 4, 1921
[Albert Gleizes, 1920, Femme portant un enfant, Exposition Internationale d'Art Moderne, Geneva, 26 December 1920 - 25 January 1921, No. 185 (black and white photographic reproduction). Dimensions and whereabouts unknown. Cat. rais. no. 918, p. 316, 317
Albert Gleizes, 1921, Composition bleu et jaune (Composition jaune), oil on canvas, 200.5 x 110 cm
Armory Show, International Exhibition of Modern Art, Chicago, 1913. The Cubist room, Gallery 53 (northeast view), Art Institute of Chicago, March 24–April 16, 1913. Gleizes' Man on a Balcony is exhibited to the right
