Notes to Gleizes on Picasso and Braque
(1) Fabre: 'Albert Gleizes et l'Abbaye de Créteil', in Briend et al:Albert Gleizes: Le Cubisme en majesté, Barcelona and Lyon, 2001, p.139. She cites Richardson (!) as authority for her view that the reminiscences of Gleizes and Metzinger cannot be trusted. It is also fairly obvious that, although there is indeed a great deal of new and interesting material in the article, she herself only knows Gleizes'Souvenirs - Le Cubisme from the extracts given by Robbins. Back
(2) Fabre, op cit, p.134 Back
(3) In 'Note sur la peinture', Pan (Oct-Nov 1910). English translation in Antliff and Leighten: A Cubism Reader Back
(4) In !914. Picasso waiting in Kahnweiler's for the result of the Peau d'Ours sale at the Hôtel Drouot, where the picture Les Saltimbanques was pushed up to about 16,000 francs ... Note by Gleizes. Gleizes is referring to an event that occurred on the 2nd March, 1914. See the chronology in Rubin: Picasso et Braque, p.398. The figure given there is 11,500 francs. A footnote confirms that this had been planned as a work of speculation by Kahnweiler to push up the prices of Picasso's work. Back
(5) The repetition of the word 'episodic' in this passage is in the original Back
(6) The significance of this seems to me to be obscure but it rather curiously resembles Gleizes' own paintings of Spanish dancers done about the time he was writing. Back
(7) Commercial name for an enamel paint. Back
(8) 'And there should be no mistaking the fact - it was Braque who, because of his origins, was the person really responsible for these very important initiatives. Picasso only borrowed what Braque had lived. What Picasso had lived was, alas, to return in all its glory in those intellectual works which give such pleasure to the literary peopleand snobs, to whom his truly great works are as inaccessible today as they were in the past. The son of the builder's decorator and the son of the teacher in an art academy have each revealed themselves according to their origins - that is what the proclamations of a publicity machine that has lost all restraint cannot hide from free spirits not yet completely abandoned by their common sense.' - Note by Gleizes. Back
(9) Galeries Georges Petit, Paris, 16 Juin - 30 Juillet, 1932. Back
(10) The Epic. See extract number 7 Back
(11) Gleizes divides the history of Cubism into three phases - Volume (the cube), multiple perspective, respect for the flat surface. The best expression of his argument is in the notes to the illsurtations to Kubismus. Back
(12) Muter, Mela (1876-1967) Polish figurative artist. Largely responsible for introducing Gleizes into Socialist circles after the First World War. Back
(13) Reference to a comment made by Braque, I think to Jean Paulhan, that he found his inspiration in the contents of a rubbish bin. Back