Albert Gleizes
On a Circus Theme
1916
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Albert Gleizes
On a Circus Theme
1916
Physical Qualities
Oil on paperboard, Unframed: 39 3/4 × 30 1/8 in. (101 × 76.5 cm.)
Framed: 44 1/4 × 34 1/8 × 2 1/4 in. (112.4 × 86.7 × 5.7 cm.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Saidie A. May
Object Number
1951.304
Traces of horses and perhaps elephants appear to swirl around in a circular movement as Albert Gleizes evoked the entire circus experience in a condensed and nearly abstract pattern of interlocking elements.
Gleizes was one of the authors of the book Du Cubisme (On Cubism), published in 1912. Intended as a defense against a hostile public, it appeared at the height of the controversy surrounding the first public exhibition of works by a group calling themselves “Cubists” at the Salon des Indépendents in Paris, France, in 1911. This group included most of the Parisian Cubist artists of the time with the notable exception of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by bequest, 1951; The Baltimore Museum of Art on extended loan, 1950-1951; Saidie A. May, by purchase 1950; from Passedoit Gallery, New York
Passedoit Gallery, New York, "Albert Gleizes Retrospectif", 1949, no. 9.
Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, Maryland, "Selections from the May Collection", September 27-October 31, 1957.
Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Columbus, Ohio, November 9-December 4, 1967.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "20th Century European Paintings and Sculpture", July 9-September 23, 1969.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Saidie A. May Collection", September 6-November 22, 1972, ill. p. 59
Helen Molesworth and Katy Rothkopf, BMA, "European Abstraction from the Collection 1912-1948", February 28-December 2, 2001.
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, "Impressionism to Surrealism From the Baltimore Museum of Art. Selections from the Collection of Claribel and Etta Cone, Saidie Adler May and Blanche Adler," 2/8- 4/21/2002, no. 10 pp. 15.
Katy Rothkopf, "Matisse, Picasso and the School of Paris", circulated to; North Carolina Museum of Art, October 10, 2004-January 16, 2005.
Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, Maryland, "Selections from the May Collection", September 27-October 31, 1957.
Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Columbus, Ohio, November 9-December 4, 1967.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "20th Century European Paintings and Sculpture", July 9-September 23, 1969.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Saidie A. May Collection", September 6-November 22, 1972, ill. p. 59
Helen Molesworth and Katy Rothkopf, BMA, "European Abstraction from the Collection 1912-1948", February 28-December 2, 2001.
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, "Impressionism to Surrealism From the Baltimore Museum of Art. Selections from the Collection of Claribel and Etta Cone, Saidie Adler May and Blanche Adler," 2/8- 4/21/2002, no. 10 pp. 15.
Katy Rothkopf, "Matisse, Picasso and the School of Paris", circulated to; North Carolina Museum of Art, October 10, 2004-January 16, 2005.
Daniel Robbins, "From Cubism to Abstract Art: The Evolution of the Work of Gleizes and Delaunay," "BMA News Quarterly," XXV, no. 3, Spring 1961, pp. 9-21, ill. p. 19.
Inscribed: Recto: BR, "Gleizes/N.York/17" Verso: UL, label, "Restored July 1961/Victor B. Covery/Methacrylate coated/on polyvinyl"
