GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Jean Metzinger worked in several styles throughout his career, but he is best known as one of the first artists to practice cubism. The Harbor, one of his largest cubist works, is divided into several vertical panels that depict a busy port from separate points of view. Bright colors and different textures energize the composition, evoking the activity of a commercial harbor.
In addition to painting, Metzinger co-wrote and published the first formal treatise on cubism in 1912, which would greatly influence other artists. Despite Metzinger’s significance, his work has largely been overshadowed by Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso.
Excerpt from
Heather MacDonald, DMA label copy, 2012.
NOTES
Created 1912
Checked Piction
Acquisition Justification:
Jean Metzinger was a seminal player in the Modernist breakthrough known as cubism. THE HARBOR was executed at a time when Metzinger's notion of cubism had fully crystallized. In 1912 Metzinger and fellow cubist Albert Gleizes published the first treatise on cubism, thereby articulating a didactic theory, explaining the ambitions of the new pictorial idiom. DU CUBISME remains one of the most important documentary records of this crucial phase in the history of modernism. Metzinger's willingness to give critical voice to his own version of cubism distinguishes him from the stubbornly mute Picasso and Braque, both of whom refused to acknowledge cubism as a method or school. The competing versions of cubism as defined through its 'invention' by Picasso and Braque, or as a multifaceted, group movement, including such artists as Juan Gris, Fernand Leger, the Duchamp-Villon brothers, Jacques Lipchitz, Robert Delaunay, Gleizes, and Metzinger have yet to be fully reconciled .As pointed out by Dr. Richard Brettell, this painting by Metzinger may very well prove the artist's independent anticipation, rather than emulation, of the second phase of Picasso and Braque's experimentation, known as synthetic cubism. The colorful, decorative quality of this urban landscape, its compositional assurance, and witty incorporation of seemingly collaged elements bears a striking resemblance to Picasso's synthetic compositions of 1913-15. However, very few of Metzinger's paintings can be securely dated. Pending further research, the dae of this painting cannot be ascertained. It could very well postdate the synthetic works of Braque, Picasso and Juan Gris, the last of whom had a particular fondness for the compositional bands we see in THE HARBOR. Unlike Picasso and Braque, who tended to remain aloof from the intellectual currents of avant-garde Paris, Metzinger was in constant dialogue with progressive ideas of social progress and change. The sheer beauty of this faceted, but still representationally legible, port scene makes this painting a celebration of modern life. Metzinger's playful assimilation of mass-produced imagery, from the advertising-like cropped letters, to the textile-like patterned water, reflects his persistent commitment to the idea of painting as decoration. Other important paintings by Metzinger in American collections include LE GOUTER (1911), Walter Arensberg Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art), DANCER IN THE CAFE (1912, Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo) and PORTRAIT OF GLEIZES (1912, Rhode Island School of Design).
The addition of THE HARBOR to the permanent collection cannot have come at a more propitious moment. Following on the heels of the DMA's triumphant acquisition of the "cubist trilogy" last year, this painting lends an even greater depth of the museum's holding sin this pivotal phase of high modernism. Its presence enables the DMA to trace a rich narration of cubism and its aftermath, embracing the seminal contributions of Braque, Picasso, and Gris, the artists of the Section d'Or, the Orphists, the Russian constructivists on through to the international Abstraction-Creation artists of the 1930s. With Metzinger's HARBOR alongside Leger's THREE WOMEN AND STILL LIFE, DEJEUNER, Delaunay's EIFFEL TOWER, Lipchitz's BATHER, Gabo's CONSTRUCTED HEAD NO. 2, Mondrian's SELF-PORTRAIT, as well as the generous loan of Jellet's CONSTRUCTIVE CONSTRUCTION and Gleizes' STUDY FOR COMPOSITION OF TWO NUDES, the DMA can boast a rare diversity of cubist-inspired painting and sculpture.
Selected Literature:
Antliff, Mark. "Cubism, Celtism, and the Body Politic." ART BULLETIN, December 1992, pp. 655-668. Cooper, Douglas. CUBIST EPOCH. Phaidon, London, 1971. Cooper, Douglas and Tinterow, Gary. THE ESSENTIAL CUBISM: BRAQUE, PICASSO & THEIR FRIENDS 1907-1920. George Braziller, New York, 1983. Golding, John. CUBISM: A HISTORY AND AN ANALYSIS, 1907-1914. Faber and Faber, London, 1959, pp. 151-161. Moser, Charlotte. Review of the exhibition "Jean Metzinger in Retrospect," organized by the University of Iowa. ARTnews. May 1986, pp. 116-117. Rosenblum, Robert. CUBISM AND TWENTIETH-CENTURY ART. Harry N. Abrams, New York, 1976.
Metzinger, Jean (French, 1883-1956)
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Place of origin: Paris (France): TGN: 7008038
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- Guggenheim, New York~Read a biography of Jean Metzinger from the Guggenheim.
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General Description
Jean Metzinger worked in several styles throughout his career, but he is best known as one of the first artists to practice cubism. The Harbor, one of his largest cubist works, is divided into several vertical panels that depict a busy port from separate points of view. Bright colors and different textures energize the composition, evoking the activity of a commercial harbor.
In addition to painting, Metzinger co-wrote and published the first formal treatise on cubism in 1912, which would greatly influence other artists. Despite Metzinger’s significance, his work has largely been overshadowed by Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso.
Excerpt from
Heather MacDonald, DMA label copy, 2012.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
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Notes
Created 1912
Checked Piction
Acquisition Justification:
Jean Metzinger was a seminal player in the Modernist breakthrough known as cubism. THE HARBOR was executed at a time when Metzinger's notion of cubism had fully crystallized. In 1912 Metzinger and fellow cubist Albert Gleizes published the first treatise on cubism, thereby articulating a didactic theory, explaining the ambitions of the new pictorial idiom. DU CUBISME remains one of the most important documentary records of this crucial phase in the history of modernism. Metzinger's willingness to give critical voice to his own version of cubism distinguishes him from the stubbornly mute Picasso and Braque, both of whom refused to acknowledge cubism as a method or school. The competing versions of cubism as defined through its 'invention' by Picasso and Braque, or as a multifaceted, group movement, including such artists as Juan Gris, Fernand Leger, the Duchamp-Villon brothers, Jacques Lipchitz, Robert Delaunay, Gleizes, and Metzinger have yet to be fully reconciled .As pointed out by Dr. Richard Brettell, this painting by Metzinger may very well prove the artist's independent anticipation, rather than emulation, of the second phase of Picasso and Braque's experimentation, known as synthetic cubism. The colorful, decorative quality of this urban landscape, its compositional assurance, and witty incorporation of seemingly collaged elements bears a striking resemblance to Picasso's synthetic compositions of 1913-15. However, very few of Metzinger's paintings can be securely dated. Pending further research, the dae of this painting cannot be ascertained. It could very well postdate the synthetic works of Braque, Picasso and Juan Gris, the last of whom had a particular fondness for the compositional bands we see in THE HARBOR. Unlike Picasso and Braque, who tended to remain aloof from the intellectual currents of avant-garde Paris, Metzinger was in constant dialogue with progressive ideas of social progress and change. The sheer beauty of this faceted, but still representationally legible, port scene makes this painting a celebration of modern life. Metzinger's playful assimilation of mass-produced imagery, from the advertising-like cropped letters, to the textile-like patterned water, reflects his persistent commitment to the idea of painting as decoration. Other important paintings by Metzinger in American collections include LE GOUTER (1911), Walter Arensberg Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art), DANCER IN THE CAFE (1912, Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo) and PORTRAIT OF GLEIZES (1912, Rhode Island School of Design).
The addition of THE HARBOR to the permanent collection cannot have come at a more propitious moment. Following on the heels of the DMA's triumphant acquisition of the "cubist trilogy" last year, this painting lends an even greater depth of the museum's holding sin this pivotal phase of high modernism. Its presence enables the DMA to trace a rich narration of cubism and its aftermath, embracing the seminal contributions of Braque, Picasso, and Gris, the artists of the Section d'Or, the Orphists, the Russian constructivists on through to the international Abstraction-Creation artists of the 1930s. With Metzinger's HARBOR alongside Leger's THREE WOMEN AND STILL LIFE, DEJEUNER, Delaunay's EIFFEL TOWER, Lipchitz's BATHER, Gabo's CONSTRUCTED HEAD NO. 2, Mondrian's SELF-PORTRAIT, as well as the generous loan of Jellet's CONSTRUCTIVE CONSTRUCTION and Gleizes' STUDY FOR COMPOSITION OF TWO NUDES, the DMA can boast a rare diversity of cubist-inspired painting and sculpture.
Selected Literature:
Antliff, Mark. "Cubism, Celtism, and the Body Politic." ART BULLETIN, December 1992, pp. 655-668. Cooper, Douglas. CUBIST EPOCH. Phaidon, London, 1971. Cooper, Douglas and Tinterow, Gary. THE ESSENTIAL CUBISM: BRAQUE, PICASSO & THEIR FRIENDS 1907-1920. George Braziller, New York, 1983. Golding, John. CUBISM: A HISTORY AND AN ANALYSIS, 1907-1914. Faber and Faber, London, 1959, pp. 151-161. Moser, Charlotte. Review of the exhibition "Jean Metzinger in Retrospect," organized by the University of Iowa. ARTnews. May 1986, pp. 116-117. Rosenblum, Robert. CUBISM AND TWENTIETH-CENTURY ART. Harry N. Abrams, New York, 1976.
Metzinger, Jean (French, 1883-1956)
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