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''Au Vélodrome'', also known as ''At the Cycle-Race Track'' and ''Le cycliste'', is a painting by the French artist and theorist Jean Metzinger. The work illustrates the final meters of the Paris–Roubaix race, and portrays its 1912 winner Charles Crupelandt. Metzinger's painting is the first in Modernist art to represent a specific sporting event and its champion. ''Au Vélodrome'' remained in Metzinger's atelier until it was shipped to New York, where it was shown to the public for the first time,〔''Cycling, Cubo-Futurism and the Fourth Dimension, Jean Metzinger's At the Cycle-Race Track'', Curated by Erasmus Weddigen, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, June 9 - September 16, 2012, ISBN 978-0-89207-486-0〕 8 March to 3 April, at the ''Third Exhibition of Contemporary French Art'', Carstairs (Carroll) Gallery—with works by Pach, Gleizes, Picasso, de la Fresnaye, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Derain, Duchamp, Duchamp-Villon and Villon.〔(''Third Exhibition of Contemporary French Art'', Carstairs (Carroll) Gallery, New York, 8 March - 3 April, 1915 ). Metzinger exhibited five works: ''At the Velodrome'' (33), ''A Cyclist'' (34), ''Woman Smoking'' (35), ''Landscape'' (36), ''Head of a Young Girl'' (37), ''The Yellow Plume'' (38)〕 On 10 February 1916 the American collector John Quinn acquired ''Au Vélodrome'' and the ''Racing Cyclist''. Both works by Metzinger had been on view in the Carroll Galleries exhibition. The acquisition was preceded by a lively correspondence between Quinn, the gallery manager Harriet Bryant, and the artist's brother Maurice Metzinger.〔 In 1927 an exhibition and sale of Quinn's art collection took place in New York City. The sale was conducted by Otto Bernet and Hiram H. Parke at the American Art Galleries. A catalogue was published for the occasion by the American Art Association.〔(''Paintings and sculptures, The renowned collection of modern and ultra-modern art formed by the late John Quinn )'', Exhibition and sale at the American Art Galleries, Sale conducted by Bernet and Parke, Published by American Art Association, New York, 1927〕 ''Au Vélodrome'' (n. 266 of the catalogue) was purchased at the sale for $70 by American art dealer and publisher J. B. Neumann. Peggy Guggenheim purchased the painting from Neumann in 1945〔 and forms part of the permanent collection of her museum in Venice; Peggy Guggenheim Collection.〔(The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Jean Metzinger, At the Cycle‐Race Track )〕 From 9 June to 16 September 2012 the painting was the subject of an exhibition in Venice entitled ''Cycling, Cubo‐Futurism and the 4th Dimension. Jean Metzinger’s "At the Cycle‐Race Track"''.〔(''Cycling, Cubo‐Futurism and the 4th Dimension. Jean Metzinger’s "At the Cycle‐Race Track"'', Curated by Erasmus Weddigen, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, June 9 – September 16, 2012 )〕 ==Description== ''At the Cycle-Race Track (Au Vélodrome)'', is an oil, sand and collage on canvas, painted in a vertical format with dimensions 130.4 × 97.1 cm (51 3/8 × 38 1/4 in), signed ''JMetzinger'' towards the lower left. In the foreground a road bicycle racer is shown in various degrees of transparency that give way to elements of the background, blurring the distinction between distances near and far. The cyclists head, for example, is almost entirely transparent, the audience composed of mosaic-like cubes is visible through the head, neck and arm, an effect reminiscent of the artists Divisionist period. Metzinger's bicycle shimmers between the unique and the multiple, as if the two merge into one. The scene represents an extant photo-finish, a series of frames captured during the final sprint at the end of a race. The presence of the other bicyclist is revealed by the rear wheel to the left of the canvas. Metzinger's painting appears to show the handlebars in two positions,〔(''Cubism and Australian Art'', Lesley Harding, Sue Cramer - 2009 )〕 but the handlebars along with sections of the bicycle frame are actually superimposed as a transparency (over the left hand, left foot of the cyclist and over the drive-wheel), representing two consecutive frames, one subtracted from the other, i.e., the road is visible 'through' the racer where the bicycle had been a fraction of a second earlier, as if to show motion through absence. With this type of game playing with contradictory visual codes (positive and negative space), Metzinger discerns the past and the present infinitesimally separated in time; while the perception of the future is left to the intellectual discretion of the observer to contemplate. Cubist and Futurist devices appear superimposed in Metzinger's ''At the Cycle-Race Track'', creating an image that is readable yet essentially anti-naturalistic. Cubist elements include the reduction of the geometric schema to simplified shapes, and the juxtaposition of rotating planes to define spatial qualities, printed-paper collage, the incorporation of a granular surface and multiple perspective. Parallels with Futurism include the choice of a subject in motion (the bicyclist), the suggestion of velocity (motion blur on the wheel spokes), and the fusing of forms in a static picture plane. Metzingers's work integrates the idea of an aesthetic generated by the modern myth of the machine and speed.〔(The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice )〕 ''At the Cycle‐Race Track'' illustrates the final yards of the Paris–Roubaix race, and portrays Charles Crupelandt, the 1912 winner, according to the art historian Erasmus Weddigen.〔 The race is known for its the extreme difficulty and danger of cycling over the narrow cobblestone roads of northern France. The Paris–Roubaix has since been referred to as the ''Hell of the North (L'enfer du Nord)'', and ''A Sunday in Hell''.〔 Metzinger’s painting was the first in Modernist art to represent a specific sporting event and its champion.〔 He incorporated into the painting his concepts of multiple perspective, simultaneity, and time, according to his belief that the fourth dimension was crucial to the new art that could compete with the classical French tradition.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Au Vélodrome」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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