(b Paris, 8 Dec. 1881; d Avignon, 23 June 1953). French painter, printmaker, and writer. His early work was Impressionist in style, but in 1909 he took up Cubism. In 1912 he was among the founders of the Section d'Or group and in 1912 he wrote with Metzinger the book Du Cubisme (an English translation, Cubism, appeared in 1913). This was the first book on the movement and it remains Gleizes's main claim to fame. Much of his later career was devoted to trying to achieve a synthesis of medieval and modern art, expressing Christian ideas through pseudo-Cubist forms. In this he is generally reckoned to have been conspicuously unsuccessful and his modest reputation as a painter rests on his pre-war work. He expounded his views in several books and pamphlets.