Sur le Flat-Iron
Albert Gleizes
Description
March 28, 2009
Gleizes was a leading artist and theorist of Cubism. Here he depicts the historic Flatiron Building in Manhattan as a dynamic arrangement of interlocking triangular and rhomboid forms around a narrow strip of white that represents the “point” of the triangular building. The upward thrust of the elongated shapes from a wider base both conveys a sense of the building’s imposing height—it was arguably the tallest building in New York when completed in 1902—and echoes the shape for which the Flatiron Building is famous.
Subject Matter:
Drawing depicting the landmark Flatiron Building at Broadway, Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street in New York City. Designed by Chicago architect Daniel H. Burnham and built in 1902, the triangular building was the first structure in New York with a steel frame and is one of New York’s oldest surviving skyscrapers. Gleizes takes a Cubist and Futurist approach in his representation of the building, revealing multiple perspectives of the edifice simultaneously on a single picture plane, while systematically dismantling and rhythmically reorganizing its structure.
Physical Description:
Ink and gouache drawing in black, gray and white on tan paper with tall vertical structure at center of composition rendered in a series of quick vertical and diagonal lines.
Usage Rights:
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