Albert Gleizes
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Albert Gleizes (8 December 1881 – 23 June 1953), was a French artist, theoretician, philosopher, a founder of
Cubism and an influence on the
School of Paris. Albert Gleizes and
Jean Metzinger wrote the first major treatise on Cubism,
Du "Cubisme", 1912. Gleizes was a founding member of the
Section d'Or group of artists. He was also a member of
Der Sturm, and his many theoretical writings were originally most appreciated in Germany, where especially at the
Bauhaus
his ideas were given thoughtful consideration. Gleizes spent four
crucial years in New York, and played an important role in making
America aware of
modern art. He was a member of the
Society of Independent Artists, founder of the Ernest-Renan Association, and both a founder and participant in the Abbaye de Creteil.
[1] Gleizes exhibited regularly at
Léonce Rosenberg’s
Galerie de l’Effort Moderne in Paris; he was also a founder, organizer and director of
Abstraction-Création. From the mid-1920s to the late 1930s much of his energy went into writing (e.g.,
La Peinture et ses lois (Paris, 1923),
Vers une conscience plastique: La Forme et l’histoire (Paris, 1932) and
Homocentrisme (Sablons, 1937).
[2]
Early life
Albert Gleizes, 1909,
Bords de la Marne, oil on canvas, 54 x 65 cm, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon
Born Albert Léon Gleizes and raised in
Paris, he was the son of a fabric designer who ran a large industrial design workshop. He was also the nephew of
Léon Comerre, a successful portrait painter who won the 1875
Prix de Rome.
The young Albert Gleizes did not like school and often skipped classes
to idle away the time writing poetry and wandering through the nearby
Montmartre cemetery.
Finally, after completing his secondary schooling, Gleizes spent four
years in the 72nd Infantry Regiment of the French army (Abbeville,
Picardie) then began pursuing a career as a painter. Gleizes began to
paint self-taught around 1901 in the
Impressionist tradition. His first landscapes from around
Courbevoie appear particularly inspired by
Sisley or
Pissarro.
[3]
Although clearly related to Pissarro in technique, Gleizes' particular
view-points as well as the composition and conception of early works
represent a clear departure from the style of late Impressionism. The
density with which these works are painted and their solid framework
suggest affinities with Divisionism which were often noted by early
critics.
[1]
Gleizes was only twenty-one years of age when his work titled
La Seine à Asnières
was exhibited at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1902. The
following year Gleizes exhibited two paintings at the Salon d'Automne.
In 1905 Gleizes was among the founders of
l'Association Ernest-Renan, a union of students opposed to military propaganda. Gleizes was in charge of the
Section littéraire et artistique,
organizing theater productions and poetry readings. At the Musée des
Beaux-Arts de Lyon (Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, 1906),
Gleizes exhibited
Jour de marché en banlieue. Tending towards 1907 his work evolved into a
Post-Impressionist style with strong
Naturalist and
Symbolist components.
[3]
