Albert GLEIZES (1881-1953) Lot n° 12

Albert GLEIZES (1881-1953) N°41 New-York " ST India ink on paper, monogrammed and dated "1915" on the lower right. Dimensions : H. 29 cm, L. 19,5 cm. Label "N°41, New-York, Galerie des Ambassades, avenue Matignon, 75008 Paris, 1915, ink. 26 x 19,5". Provenance: Galerie des Ambassades, Paris, 1989. Exhibition: work n°11 of the exhibition catalogue of the Galerie des Ambassades organized from 28/11/1988 to 28/01/1989. Work included in the catalogue raisonné of the artist, Vol. I, Anne Varichon, n°623, P. 211. Co-founder of Cubism, Albert Gleizes left his mark on the avant-garde of the first half of the 20th century. The importance of his work can be seen today in the presence of his paintings and drawings in the greatest international museums such as MoMA, the Tate Gallery and the Centre Pompidou. A typical New York Gleizes drawing The four years (from 1915 to 1919) that Albert Gleizes spent in New York - where he met Marcel Duchamp and Francis Picabia - were a crucial moment in his work. Our drawing, signed and dated from the beginning of his American period, bears witness to this major turning point in his artistic career. It features a characteristic vertical composition, a profusion of angular lines transcribing the anatomy of New York architecture, as well as the volume of letters, "ST", like a sign, giving rhythm to the whole. Combining the meticulousness of the iconographer and the science of effect of the mural decorator, this drawing translates all the artist's know-how, which culminates in contact with the "standing city". A cubist manifesto Albert Gleizes, author with Jean Metzinger of Du Cubisme (1912), is a formidable theorist of this radical movement that durably reoriented 20th century art. Our drawing, based on the unbridled urbanism of New York, is part of this theoretical research. Here, the artist plays with the accumulation of plans and questions the notion of perspective. However, he did not go for pure abstraction. For Gleizes, in fact, architecture is the basis of all the arts. A masterful drawing from Albert Gleizes' New York period, N°41 New York "ST" contains the distinctive elements of this original and remarkable artist, a pioneer of Cubism.