''Le Chemin, Paysage à Meudon'' also known as ''Paysage avec personage'', is an oil on canvas painted in 1911 by the artist, theorist and writer

Albert Gleizes Albert Gleizes (; 8 December 1881 – 23 June 1953) was a French artist, theoretician, philosopher, a self-proclaimed founder of Cubism and an influence on the School of Paris. Albert Gleizes and Jean Metzinger wrote the first major treatise on ...

. The work was exhibited at the

Salon des Indépendants Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room A drawing room is a room in a house where visitors may be entertained, and an alternative name for a living room. The name i ...

during the spring of 1911, Paris; Les Indépendants, Musée moderne de Bruxelles, 1911; Galeries Dalmau, ''Exposicio d'art cubista'', Barcelona, 1912; Galerie La Boétie, ''Salon de La Section d'Or'', 1912.Site Rose-Valland, Musées Nationaux Récupération
/ref> The painting was reproduced in the journal ''Le Siècle'' (1912) in an article titled ''Enquête sur le Cubisme'', by Olivier Hourcade. ''Le Chemin'' was identified by Hector Feliciano as having been plundered by the Nazis from the home of collector Alphonse Kann during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It was returned to the heirs of Alphonse Kann in July 1997 and placed at public auctions in New York (1999) and London (2010) respectively.

Description

''Le Chemin, Paysage à Meudon'' is an oil painting on canvas with dimensions , signed and dated 'Albert Gleizes 1911' (lower right); signed again and titled 'Alb Gleizes Paysage' (on the reverse). This work, painted at the outset of 1911, represents a human figure walking through a hilly landscape with trees, houses or villas, a bridge over the

Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...

river, and a town with a church (possibly the Paroisse de Saint-Cloud) on the 'horizon', consistent with elements of the town in the southwestern suburbs of Paris,

Meudon Meudon () is a French Communes of France, commune located in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region, on the left bank of the Seine. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of P ...

. The term 'Cubism' was employed for the first time in June 1911 by

Guillaume Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire (; ; born Kostrowicki; 26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918) was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist and art critic of Poland, Polish descent. Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of the ...

, speaking in the context of the Indépendants exhibition in Brussels which included this work by Gleizes, along with others by

Robert Delaunay Robert Delaunay (; 12 April 1885 – 25 October 1941) was a French artist of the School of Paris movement; who, with his wife Sonia Delaunay and others, co-founded the Orphism (art), Orphism art movement, noted for its use of strong colours and g ...

Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...

, and Henri Le Fauconnier. During the summer, Gleizes was in close contact with

Jean Metzinger Jean Dominique Antony Metzinger (; 24 June 1883 – 3 November 1956) was a major 20th-century French painter, theorist, writer, critic and poet, who along with Albert Gleizes wrote the first theoretical work on Cubism. His earliest works, from 1 ...

, who had recently moved to Meudon. Gleizes too lived and worked in the western suburbs of Paris (''la

banlieue In France, a banlieue (; ) is a suburb of a large city, or all its suburbs taken collectively. Banlieues are divided into autonomous administrative entities and do not constitute part of the city proper. For instance, 80percent of the inhabitant ...

ouest''), 24 Avenue Gambetta,

Courbevoie Courbevoie () is a Communes of France, commune located in the Hauts-de-Seine department of the Île-de-France region of France. It is a suburb of Paris, from the Kilometre zero, center of Paris. The centre of Courbevoie is situated from the ci ...

. The Gleizes' family moved to Avenue Gambetta in 1887.Peter Brooke, ''Albert Gleizes, Chronology of his life, 1881-1953''
/ref> Both artists were discontent with the conventional perspective mechanism. They had long conversations about the nature of form and perception. They agreed that traditional painting gave a static and incomplete idea of the subject as experienced in life. Things, they would conclude, are in fact dynamic, observed to move, are seen from different angles and can be captured at successive moments in time.

Cubism

, Gleizes' largest painting to date, is the principal product of "rodage" (, a 'grinding together', a term Gleizes himself used with Jean Metzinger}. In his ''Cubism in the Shadow of War: The Avant-Garde and Politics in Paris, 1905-1914'', art historian David Cottington writes of :David Cottington,''Cubism in the Shadow of War: The Avant-Garde and Politics in Paris, 1905-1914'', Yale University Press, 1998
/ref>

The classical armature and Claudian image of Gleizes' picture are both overlaid with a pattern of planes and facets that fragments forms, combines perspectives and complicates the relation between spaces and volumes, but does little to disrupt the conventional spatial recession.

Just as in the works of Metzinger, and unlike those of

Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

Georges Braque Georges Braque ( ; ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century List of French artists, French painter, Collage, collagist, Drawing, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his alliance with ...

of the same period, Gleizes had no interest in the flattening of the entire surface, of fusing background and foreground to the point where all spatial depth of field was abandoned. Gleizes made use of fragmentation of form, multiple perspective views (i.e., mobile and dynamic, rather than static and from one point-of-view) along with linear and planar structural qualities. Gleizes' '' Les Baigneuses (The Bathers)'' of the following year employs the same concept of multiple perspective, but not at the expense of vacating spatial depth. Though highly sophisticated in theory, this aspect of simultaneity would actually become quite commonly employed within the practices of the Section d'Or group. Gleizes deployed these techniques in "a radical, personal and coherent manner", according to Cottington. In his catalogue preface for the 1911 , Guillaume Apollinaire wrote of this painting, titled :

Gleizes' Proto-Cubist work entitled '' L'Arbre (The Tree)'' exhibited at the 1910

in Paris was the point of departure for . Visibly distant from the work of Picasso or Braque, is stylistically much closer to Metzinger, Le Fauconnier, Léger and Delaunay. Gleizes' interpretation of space in a succession of plans and simple geometric lines descends directly from the teachings of

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work introduced new modes of representation, influenced avant-garde artistic movements of the early 20th century a ...

. These same aesthetic preoccupations would unite several artists that formed a group and held meetings in Puteaux, at the Duchamp residence. For their first public manifestation as a group—the Salon de la Section d'Or of 1912—Gleizes chose to present this 1911 landscape (no. 39 of the catalogue), along with and the monumental (''

Harvest Threshing ''Le Dépiquage des Moissons'', also known as ''Harvest Threshing'', and ''The Harvesters'', is an immense oil painting created in 1912 by the French artist, theorist and writer Albert Gleizes (1881–1953). It was first revealed to the general p ...

''), both of 1912. In their Lot Notes for the 1999 sale,

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

writes:Christie's, New York, Rockefeller Plaza, Sale 9224, 20th Century Art (Evening Sale), 9 November 1999
/ref>

In 1911, Albert Gleizes was at the height of his artistic powers and is one of the artist's most celebrated paintings. ..In the present work, Gleizes retained a traditional sense of perspective and employed the use of a vanishing point in the road and the houses in the background. There is a logical diminution of form, and in this respect Gleizes' Cubism retained his singular vision of imposing a sense of weight and volumetric relationships to his subjects.

In their Lot Notes for the 2010 sale, Christie's writes:Christie's, London, King Street, Sale 7857, Impressionist/Modern Evening Sales, Lot 38, 23 June 2010. Lot Notes
/ref>

is a large and important painting made by Albert Gleizes in the summer of 1911 at the height of his new friendship and collaboration with fellow Cubist Jean Metzinger. One of his largest and most ambitious paintings from this period, made in direct response to the inspiration of Metzinger, it was exhibited by Gleizes at the groundbreaking exhibition of the so-called 'Salon Cubists', Robert Delaunay, Fernand Léger, Henri Le Fauconnier and Gleizes, at the Salon des Indépendants in June 1911.

With its prismatic Cubism, shifting multiple perspective points and its holistic integration of landscape and figure centred around this lone figures journey through a path in the woods and through the heart of the picture, this work represents a radical extension of Gleizes' Cubism into an entirely new integrated and simultaneous style of composition.

History

Alphonse Kann had been admired for his extraordinary taste and keen eye. Before the war his collection included at least thirty-five paintings by

Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

, in addition to many others by artists such as

Braque Georges Braque ( ; ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century French painter, collagist, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his alliance with Fauvism from 1905, and the role he play ...

, Klee,

Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...

, Manet, Courbet, Renoir. ''Paysage à Meudon'' was among approximately 130 works that had been looted from the Kann collection by the German Occupation Army in 1940. The National Museums of Recuperations recovered ''Paysage à Meudon'' in 1949 and it subsequently went into the collection of the

Musée National d'Art Moderne The Musée National d'Art Moderne (; "National Museum of Modern Art") is the national museum for modern art of France. It is located in the 4th arrondissement of Paris and is housed in the Centre Pompidou. In 2021 it ranked 10th in the list of ...

, Paris. On 11 July 1997 the Musée National d'Art Moderne returned Gleizes' ''Paysage à Meudon'', stolen by Nazi occupiers during the Second World War, to the heirs of the art collector Alphonse Kann. Didier Schulman, a curator at the

Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...

, confirmed the return of the painting to Francois Warin, grand-nephew of Alphonse Kann. The Gleizes painting was one of 2,000 objects returned to France from Germany after the war. If a work remained unclaimed, they were temporarily entrusted to museums. These artworks are known as National Museum Recovery (NMR). Francois Warin learned of the Gleizes painting from a book written in 1997 by the journalist Hector Feliciano, ''The Lost Museum'', which traces the fate of many works confiscated by the Nazis.France returns artwork looted by Nazis to owner, Reuters, 14 July 1997
/ref> Feliciano found Gleizes' ''Landscape'' while researching his book. The painting was listed in documents of the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR), a Nazi government branch that supervised the confiscation of artworks in France. Feliciano said that after plundering the painting, the Nazis brought it to the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume in Paris where confiscated artworks were deposited. "For the Germans it was degenerate art so they bartered it or sold it for the type of paintings they liked," said Feliciano. Because the Nazis considered

Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...

Futurism Futurism ( ) was an Art movement, artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such as the ...

and

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

"degenerate", German art dealers were able to inexpensively acquire them or exchange them for less valuable works that the Nazis coveted. France's

Cour des Comptes The ''Cour des Comptes'' (, "Court of Accounts") is France's supreme audit institution, under French law an administrative court. As such, it is independent from the legislative and executive branches of the French Government. However, the 1946 ...

, a state spending 'watchdog' charged with conducting financial and legislative audits of public and private institutions, accused the museums of failing in their legal duty to seek out the owners or heirs of the works, including paintings by

Pierre-Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; ; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French people, French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionism, Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially femininity, fe ...

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his ...

and sculptures by

Auguste Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (; ; 12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a u ...

. In an attempt to rebut the charges, French authorities put 900 of the MNRs on exhibit in five national museums, including

The Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

and the Pompidou Centre. Gleizes' ''Paysage à Meudon'' was among them. The state-museum network explained that few or none of the works in its possession were looted from Jews, but were sold to the Nazis by collaborationist dealers in the wartime Parisian art market. However, works such as the Gleizes, were indeed seized from Jews deported to death camps or fleeing persecution, or sold under duress at rock-bottom prices. Feliciano accused state museums of doing nothing to try to return the MNRs to their owners. Warin had to wait a year to recover the work after his original claim, even though documents listing the Gleizes were in France's Foreign Ministry archives. "This is proof the museums haven't done their job for 50 years," Feliciano said. "They had these documents in their hands."

''Paysage près de Paris''

''Le Chemin'' was not the only work by Gleizes to be looted by the Nazis: ''Paysage près de Paris'', also referred to as ''Landschaft bei Paris'' and ''Paysage de Courbevoie'', 1912, an oil on canvas of dimensions 72.8 x 87.1 cm, has been missing from Hannover since 1937. This work is listed in the Lost Art Internet Database.Lost Art Internet Database, Albert Gleizes, ''Paysage près de paris, Paysage de Courbevoie'', 1912
/ref> Formerly in the collection of Dr. Paul Erich Küppers, Hannover, Germany (the first director Kestner society art gallery), the painting was confiscated by the German

Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda The Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda (, RMVP), also known simply as the Ministry of Propaganda (), controlled the content of the press, literature, visual arts, film, theater, music and radio in Nazi Germany. The ministr ...

(Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda, RMVP or Propagandaministerium) in Hannover (1937) from Leihgabe im Landesmuseum Hannover, Beschlagnahme 1937, Gal. Buchholz Berlin, and has been missing ever since.

Provenance

*Alphonse Kann, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, from whom confiscated by the National Socialists in 1940. *Deposited with the Musée national d'Art moderne, Paris, by L'Office des biens privés (Office of Private Properties; inv. no. RIP) in 1949. *Restituted to the heirs of Alphonse Kann in July 1997. *Christie's, New York, Rockefeller Plaza, Sale 9224, 20th Century Art (Evening Sale) Lot 516, 9 November 1999. Price realized: $827,500 *Christie's, London, King Street, Sale 7857, Impressionist/Modern Evening Sales, Lot 38, 23 June 2010. Price realized: $2,683,878, or 2,198,983 Euros (a public auction record for a work by Albert Gleizes)

Literature

*J. Golding, ''Cubism'', London, 1959, p. 150. *B. Dorival, ''The School of Paris in the Musée d'Art Moderne'', New York, 1962, p. 148 (illustrated). *P. Alibert, ''Albert Gleizes, naissance et avenir du cubisme'', Saint-Etienne, 1982, pp. 13, 40 and 70 (illustrated). *A. de la Beaumelle and N. Pouillon, eds., ''La collection du Musée National d'Art Moderne'', Paris, 1986, p. 247 and 248 (illustrated in color, p. 247). *H. Feliciano, ''The Lost Museum: The Nazi Conspiracy to Steal the World's Greatest Works of Art'', New York, 1997, p. 225 (illustrated, p. C15). *A. Varichon, ''Albert Gleizes: Catalogue raisonné'', Paris, 1998, vol. I, p. 135, no. 369 (illustrated in color). *D. Cottington, ''Cubism in the Shadow of the War - the avant-garde and politics in Paris, 1905-1914'', New Haven & London, 1998, p. 112 (illustrated).

Exhibited

*Salon des Indépendants, Paris, Quai d'Orsay, April - June 1911, no. 2613 (as Le chemin). *Indépendants de Bruxelles, VIII ''Salon annuel du Cercle d'art Les Indépendants'', Musée moderne de Bruxelles, 10 June - 3 July 1911, Place A. Stews, Delaunay, Gleizes, Léger, Le Fauconnier, no. 88 (as Le chemin). *Galeries J. Dalmau, ''Exposicio d'art cubista'', Barcelona, 20 April–10 May 1912, no. 16. *Salon de La Section d'Or, Paris, Galerie La Boétie, October 1912, no. 39. *City Art Gallery, ''Autour du cubisme'', London, Tate Gallery, and Birmingham, July–September 1956, no. 7. *Institute of Contemporary Art, ''Paintings from the Musée national d'Art moderne'', October 1957 - April 1958, no. 17 (illustrated); this exhibition later travelled to Columbus, Ohio, Gallery of Fine Arts; Pittsburg, Carnegie Institute and Minneapolis, Walker Art Center. *The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, ''Albert Gleizes, 1881-1953, A Retrospective Exhibition'', September - October 1964, no. 23 (illustrated); this exhibition later travelled to Paris, Musée national d'Art moderne, December 1964 - January 1965, no. 9 and Dortmund, Museum am Ostwall, March - April 1965, no. 9 (titled 'Paysage, Meudon'). *Hall d'exposition, ''L'Abbaye Créteil'', Créteil, October 1971, no. 35. *Palazzo Reale, ''Boccioni e il suo tempo'', Milan, December 1973-February 1974, no. 147 (illustrated). *Atelier Paul Cézanne, ''Pages Cézanniennes: Albert Gleizes'', Aix-en-Provence, August–October 1986. *National Gallery of Scotland, ''Monet to Matisse: Landscape in France, 1874-1914'', Edinburgh, August–October 1994, pp. 37, 161, and 191, nos. 124 and 252 (illustrated in color, p. 84; detail illustrated in color, p. 160). *Museu Picasso, ''Albert Gleizes: El cubisme en majestat'', Barcelona, March - August 2001, no. 31; this exhibition later travelled to Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts, September - December 2001 (illustrated p. 44, titled 'Le Chemin, Meudon').

References

Notes

Citations

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chemin, Paysage a Meudon, Le Paintings by Albert Gleizes Cubist paintings 1911 paintings Landscape paintings Stolen works of art Nazi-looted art Painting controversies Oil on canvas paintings