Traces of horses and perhaps elephants appear to swirl around in a circular movement as Albert Gleizes evoked the entire circus experience in a condensed and nearly abstract pattern of interlocking elements. Gleizes was one of the authors of the book Du Cubisme (On Cubism), published in 1912. Intended as a defense against a hostile public, it appeared at the height of the controversy surrounding the first public exhibition of works by a group calling themselves “Cubists” at the Salon des Indépendents in Paris, France, in 1911. This group included most of the Parisian Cubist artists of the time with the notable exception of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque.