Title: Bords de la Marne
Description: Bords de la Marne, also called Les Bords de la Marne and The Banks of the Marne, is a proto-Cubist oil painting on canvas created in 1909 by the French artist, theorist and writer Albert Gleizes. In this work can be seen a departure from the representation of the observable world. The subject is treated neither as a confined symbolic allegory nor as a cultural background indicated by specific real appearance, but is instead presented in concrete and precise geometric terms. The development of Cubist and abstract art in the work of Gleizes was necessarily a transformation from the synthetic preoccupation with his subject matter. The passage of Gleizes' painting from an epic visionary figuration to total abstraction was foreshadowed during his proto-Cubist period. Bords de la Marne measures 54 × 65 cm, and is currently in the permanent collection of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon.
Author(s): Albert Gleizes