“Gleizes and Metzinger: Du Cubisme (1912)” at the Juan March Foundation.

Finished last June 28, the big spring exhibition devoted to The modern taste. Art Deco in Paris, 1910-1935, and before that, this autumn, on 16 October, the first complete retrospective ever presented in Spain of the versatile Swiss artist Max Bill (1908-1994) opens, the Juan March Foundation prepares this summer an exhibition of small format, which can be seen, from 14 July to 29 August, in a part of its exhibition space: GLEIZES and METZINGER: DU CUBISME (1912).

The essay 'Du cubisme' written by both Cubism theorists, Albert Gleizes (1881-1953) and Jean Metzinger (1883-1956), appeared in time for the Salon exhibition of the Section d'Or in October 1912 and it can be considered the first aesthetic manifesto of Cubism. In 1947 the text was reissued with an introduction by Albert Gleizes and an epilogue by Jean Metzinger.

Gleizes explained the motives of his essay: first, his own clarification, the attempts to synthesize the premeditation, ideas and clever combinations that were at the origin of this artistic movement, convinced as they were that painting is always the result of a reflective activity; also they aspired to clear misunderstandings and misconceptions about the cubism; and finally, because they thought they should be, painters, not theorists, who tried explain.

The 1912 edition had quite an impact and was translated into several languages. It was accompanied by several illustrations, sorted by the time of adhesion of the authors to Cubism: Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso, André Derain, Georges Braque, Jean Metzinger, Marie Laurencin, Albert Gleizes, Fernand Léger, Marcel Duchamp, Juan Gris and Francis Picabia.

In a later edition of the 1947 text, it was accompanied by eleven prints, respectively belonging to Pablo Picasso, Jacques Villon, Francis Picabia, Jean Metzinger, Fernand Léger, Marie Laurencin, Juan Gris, Albert Gleizes, Marcel Duchamp, André Derain and Georges Braque. Six etchings, three dry ends and two aquatints. The prints of this edition were prepared during the twenties, but not published until 1947, for example, the plate Homme au chapeau made by Picasso between 1914 and 1915, although it was not printed until 1947 for publication in this edition.

The exhibition includes a copy of the 1947 reissue of all his prints, from the collection of the Juan March Foundation, and is completed by three oil paintings of the authors of the book: Les Musiciens (1920) and Composition (1921) by Albert Gleizes and Nature morte, fruits, verre et noix (s.f.) by Jean Metzinger, from private collections.