Albert GLEIZES (1881-1953) - Lot 42

Albert GLEIZES (1881-1953) "Vers une conscience plastique, la forme et l'histoire", Paris April 3, 1930 Signed and dated autograph manuscript, enriched with a suite of 63 original Indian ink models. Here, Albert Gleizes delivers a profound, cross-disciplinary analysis of form, from mythology to modern art. Technology, cinema and photography have popularized the decomposition of movement. This aesthetic research is intrinsic to the modern school of art, and is put into perspective in this manuscript with ancient and classical iconography and bas-reliefs. In-folio manuscript, 396 pages written on the recto of 404 leaves, preceded by a title page, a bibliography and a six-page foreword. Text written in black ink in fairly legible, neat handwriting with erasures, corrections, additions and numerous notes. Bound in period folio (33.5x22.5 cm) in full red morocco, inner boards with gilt filleting, gilt headband, spine ribbed with gilt title adorned with geometric mosaic decoration (G. Badaire). Boxed. On the title page, Gleizes specifies the various stages in the creation of the manuscript: "The first sketch was made in December 28, the fine-tuning was begun on January 10, 29 and completed on April 3, 1930 ... the corrections and notes were finalized in March 1932". The final manuscript of "Vers une conscience plastique, la forme et l'histoire" was published in May 1932 by Jacques Povolozky in Paris. This edition includes 66 illustrations printed in the text, based on 63 original Indian ink drawings by Albert Gleizes and 3 photographs. The 63 drawings used for the reproduction are mounted on the front of original boards, annotated on the back. The set is preserved in a cardboard folder in a period red morocco half-binder matching that of the manuscript. Boxed. This mock-up, composed of Gleizes' original drawings, was used for the edition presented here. Attached is a one-page in-4 autograph manuscript signed by Albert Gleizes: "L'Histoire de l'art et la valeur de la Forme" and a 4-page in-folio and in-4 draft of the table of illustrations. Excerpts from the manuscript pp.10 and 11 and pp.263 and 264 At a certain point in my life, I found myself very attracted to plastic research that already seemed to want to readapt the independent artist to the dependent craftsman. This research, which brought together a number of men in a common spirit, was dubbed "Cubism" by the spiritual people of the time. The fortunes and misfortunes of Cubism since that time are well known, so I won't dwell on them. But what emerges from these fluctuations is an absolute ignorance of what it meant then and what it means now. Its true meaning has yet to be grasped by the public who want to know the end of the matter, and by painters who have not given up their training habits, but only discern a certain appearance. From the moment my eyes were opened, I've tried to warn those capable of making an effort. But Cubism, in its letter, had been overtaken by other isms, and the fear of not being up to date had quickly persuaded the public and many painters that it had been no more than a manner, a process with no future. After all, isn't it better that way? For while the majority rush to what makes the most noise, those who are truly passionate about the truth can at their ease, without fear of embarrassment, delve deeper into Cubism, which is still far from having said its last word... In my preface to "Cubism and Translation", I stated that "what gives a different expression to technique is that it can be subjected to two states of mind proceeding from an opposite intellectual position; the milieu is not the same for these two states of mind." The foregoing makes it immediately clear that these two states of mind depend on different intellectual positions. In one case, the medium is a sensitive resonance, in the other a voluntary resonance; the intellect is a spectator, here it acts; in the first case it records, in the second it emits. From a technical point of view, the means employed: when the will-measure commands, the technique is organic: when substance has the upper hand and encloses itself in the instantaneous form and describes the sensitive figure. These are the different expressions of technique, either positive or negative. These changes in intellectual position entail radical modifications in the nature of the organs and senses [...] In Peinture et Perspective descriptiv