The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 20, 2025

Relational Painting Tondo No. 12

1949

Fritz Glarner

(American, born Switzerland, 1899–1972)
America
oil on masonite panel
Framed: 46.5 x 45.5 x 6.5 cm (18 5/16 x 17 15/16 x 2 9/16 in.); Diameter: 34.3 cm (13 1/2 in.)
Contemporary Collection of The Cleveland Museum of Art 1967.4
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Fritz Glarner painted a large mural for the Dag Hammarskjöld Library at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.

Description

During the mid-1900s, Swiss-born American artist Fritz Glarner launched a series of geometric abstractions that he called Relational Paintings. These works feature blocks and wedges of solid color with varying width. Occasionally the artist used a round format, as is the case here. He labeled these paintings tondos, an Italian term describing a circular work of art.
  • G. David Thompson (1899–1965), Pittsburgh, PA.
    [B.C. Holland Gallery, Chicago]
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, purchased in 1967.
  • “Year in Review.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 54, no. 10 (December 1967): 302–346. Mentioned: p. 346, no. 135; Reproduced: p. 329 www.jstor.org
    Diller, Burgoyne, Leon Polk Smith, and Edward B. Henning. “Two New Paintings in the Neo-Plastic Tradition.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 62, no. 4 (April 1975): 106–119. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 106-107, fig. 2 www.jstor.org
    Neet, Jane. “Mondrian’s ‘Chrysanthemum.’” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 74, no. 7 (September 1987): 282–303. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 286, fig. 6 www.jstor.org
    Sims, Lowery Stokes. The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content, and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2006. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 32-33, no. 86
  • The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA), Cleveland, OH (June 9-August 20, 2006).
    MOCA Cleveland (6/9/2006 - 8/20/2006): "The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art", no. 86, p. 121, color repr. p. 33.
    Mondrian and American Abstraction. Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Chicago, IL (organizer) (March 31-May 13, 1973).
    Year in Review: 1967. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 29-December 31, 1967).
  • {{cite web|title=Relational Painting Tondo No. 12|url=false|author=Fritz Glarner|year=1949|access-date=20 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1967.4