Galerie Stiebel, Paris
Sale: Palais Galliéra, Paris, June 22, 1962, lot 45
Sale: Sotheby's, London, July 3, 1968, lot 104
B.C. Holland, Inc., Chicago
James Goodman Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above on October 28, 1980

Anne Varichon & Henri Giriat, Albert Gleizes, Catalogue raisonné, vol. I, Paris, 1998, no. 998, illustrated p. 339

Canvas is not lined, edges have been taped. Thin vertical line of craquelure at center of composition. Some scattered small scuffs and surface dirt. Under UV light: scattered spots of inpainting mostly just above center of composition, along upper edge and near lower right corner. Otherwise fine, work is in good condition,
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Painted circa 1921, Composition "Christ en gloire" (tableau-objet) is an iconic testament to Gleizes' evolution from naturalism toward abstraction under the influence of the Parisian avant-garde, employing an extraordinarily vivid color palette while pushing the boundaries of the Cubist aesthetic heralded by Picasso and Braque. A juxtaposition of bold colors was a common feature in Gleizes' art and is here demonstrated to particularly magnificent effect. His early work of the 1920s concentrates on the strict relationship between forms and color. Indeed, the present painting is articulated by the dynamic juxtaposition of vibrant, rigorously controlled planes of color and the delicately delineated contours which bound them.  

As a co-founder of the Salon d'Automne and member of the Salon des Indépendants, Gleizes was heavily influenced by Henri Le Fauconnier, Jean Metzinger and other members of the Cubist circle. Soon discovering his own pictorial language, Gleizes sought to deconstruct the objects which appear in his canvases, reorganizing them in rhythmically shifting planes. By 1911, he was among the outstanding Cubist participants in the Salon des Indépendants and co-author with Jean Metzinger of the treatise Du Cubisme. This was the first publication to o👍ffer a clear definition of Cubism and an outline of the ideas set forth therein, providing significant inspiration to many of Gleizesꦆ' contemporaries, including Roger de Fresnaye and Fernand Léger.

In the late 1910s Gleizes began to take a greater interest in religion, incorporating abstracted Christian iconography into several of his most successful compositions in the years to follow. His last major work was a fresco entitled Eucharist, painted for a Jesuit church in Chantilly in 1952, some three decades after he painted the p💟resent image.