Composition au diapason 

Editor: Albert Gleizes’ "Composition au diapason" strikes me as something between a geometric sculpture and a black and white photograph. There's a kind of stillness, almost a hushed quality, to the whole piece. It’s so austere. What do you see in it? Curator: Hushed is a lovely way to put it. I always feel with Gleizes, particularly in his Cubist period, that he’s trying to uncover a deeper, almost spiritual resonance. That monochrome allows shapes, that architecture, to really sing. Think of musical chords and harmonies – do you hear any echoes of sound in those sharp angles and subtle curves? It almost feels like a portrait of silence. Editor: Portrait of silence, that’s interesting. So you see that central form, with the circular top… do you think it's representative of something, or just a shape? Curator: You know, with abstract work like this, it’s so tempting to assign a direct symbolism, isn’t it? Maybe that elongated form with the orb is, metaphorically, the note around which everything else arranges itself. Is that like a 'key' of sorts to the picture, perhaps? And then all these geometric shapes build off of that...it's just my intuitive interpretation though. Editor: That idea of everything arranging itself around one element is cool! It changes how I see the rest of the piece – like a community instead of just random shapes. Curator: Right? Cubism is all about showing all sides, but what about a world of shapes where everything is harmonically, and not violently, relating to something? I think that's the spirit that Gleizes brought to the canvas, which helps me tune into this piece. I see it less about tearing things down and more about quietly fitting them all together. Editor: Thanks!