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Du "Cubisme" - The manifesto of Cubism, with related texts
Albert Gleizes: Baigneuses, 1912
Oil on canvas, 105 x 171 cm
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
Some time ago I prepared a new translation of Du "Cubisme" with related texts for the publishing house Artists Bookworks. In the event the project fell through, partly because we were beaten to the finishing post by the very impressive Cubism Reader by Mark Antliff and Patricia Leighten which included both a new translation of Du "Cubisme" and translations of nearly all the contemporary essays produced by Gleizes and Metzinger.
However I still consider much of the material prepared for our own project to be valuable, partly for the accompanying notes, partly because it concentrates the attention on Gleizes and Metzinger (the Antliff/Leighten book also includes a wide range of contemporary art criticism) and partly because it includes later texts not included in the Antliff/Leigten anthology in which Gleizes and Metzinger look back on their experience of pre-war Cubism - notably Gleizes's Souvenirs - le Cubisme (published posthumously) and La Peinture moderne (1917) and Metzinger's Le Cubisme était né (published posthumously). Also the Foreword and Afterword they contributed to the 1947 reprinting of Du "Cubisme."
Some of the texts that were to be included - Gleizes's The Epic [L'Épopée, 1929, the historical section of the book published by the Bauhaus as Kubismus] and the little anthology Gleizes on Picasso and Braque can already be found either on this website or on its predecessor, www.peterbrooke.org.uk.
The proposed book had something of a tormented history and readers who have some experience of preparing books for publication will see that I have not attempted to finalise the presentation. Titles of books and paintings for example may sometimes be given in French and sometimes in English (the Artists Bookworks house style required that they be given in English). Where I quote from original texts I have usually given my own unpublished translations though the notes may refer to other published translations, notably those in the Cubism Reader.
Introduction: On "Cubism" in context. Introductory essay by Peter Brooke concerning how the book has been interpreted by historians and how it relates to the work of Gleizes and Metzinger's contemporaries. The text in Word format can be downloaded here.
Texts
Jean Metzinger: Note sur la Peinture (1910)
Jean Metzinger: "Cubisme" et Tradition (Aug 1911)
Albert Gleizes: Jean Metzinger (Sept 1911)
Albert Gleizes: A propos du Salon d'Automne (Oct 1911)
Gleizes and Metzinger: Du "Cubisme" (late 1912. A new translation by Peter Brooke). The text in Word format can be downloaded here.
Illustrations to Du "Cubisme"
Albert Gleizes: Response to an Inquiry (Dec 1912)
Albert Gleizes: Le Cubisme et la tradition (Feb 1913)
Jean Metzinger: Kubisticka Technika (1913. Translated from the Czech by Vojtech Lahoda and John Minahane)
Albert Gleizes: Opinion - Mes tableaux (Nov-Dec 1913)
Albert Gleizes: La Peinture moderne (1917)
Albert Gleizes: The Epic (1929) Note that this link transfers to a different part of the present site.
Albert Gleizes: Foreword to 1947 edition of Du "Cubisme"
Jean Metzinger: Afterword to 1947 edition of Du "Cubisme"
Albert Gleizes: Souvenirs - le Cubisme (published 1957)
Jean Metzinger: Le Cubisme était né (anecdotal memoirs published 1972). The text in Word format can be downloaded here.
APPENDIX
Maurice Princet: Introduction to catalogue of exhibition by Robert Delaunay and Marie Laurencin (Spring 1912)
Henri Le Fauconnier: La Sensibilité moderne: Introduction to catalogue of an exhibition of the Dutch Moderne Kunstkring (Late Autumn 1912)
Anthology: Gleizes on Picasso and Braque Note that this link transfers to www.peterbrooke.org.uk
Bibliography