Bermuda-related art to come on the market in some time, a portrait by French cubist painter Albert Le non Gleizes is to be auctioned later this month at Sotheby's in New York, and the Masterworks Foundation is appealing for financial assistance to buy it.

Entitled `Portrait of Juliette', the oil on masonite was painted by the artist during the couple's stay in Bermuda in 1917, and features his wife at a window.

According to Tom Butterfield, director of Masterworks, it has only been displayed publicly once -- in a 1984 exhibition entitled Au tour de Albert Gleizes at the Salle Municipale Adolphe Boisssae in France.

With two small Gleizes paintings already in its collection, the Masterworks Foundation is anxious to acquire the portrait for its collection, and to that end has been working quietly behind the scenes from the moment it received the auction catalogue some weeks ago to line up potential benefactors willing to assist in its purchase. Now it has decided to broaden its appeal and include the public.

"This is a major acquisition, and it would be wonderful to return such an important painting to the people of Bermuda through the Masterworks collection,'' Mr. Tom Butterfield explains.

"However, we don't have the funds to buy it ourselves, so we are appealing to anyone who is interested in assisting us to repatriate this glorious work to please give us a call at 295-2379.'' `Portrait of Juliette' came to Sotheby's from the late artist's estate, and will be auctioned on November 10. The whereabouts of Gleizes' second portrait of his wife is unknown.

Mr. Butterfield says Sotheby's has put an estimated sale price of between $180,000 and $220,000 on `Portrait of Juliette'.

In explaining why this Bermuda-related painting is so important, the Masterworks director says: "First, it was done in the period when the world of art was reinvented by Picasso, Braque, Gleizes and others of the cubist school. Second, the idea of a portrait of one's wife done in a window is unique.'' Mr. Butterfield notes that while Picasso and Braque were the proponents of cubism, Gleizes immediately understood what the school was about. Certainly he was among the outstanding cubists in the Salon des Inde npendants of 1911.

He employed a rich palette in contrast to the essentially monochromatic effects of Braque and Picasso, and his work remained more representational than theirs.

Gleizes was also well-known as an illustrator and writer on art. Together with Jean Metzinger he authored the first exposition on the principles of cubism in 1912. Entitled `Du Cubisme', it is still published today.

Of the revolutionary cubism school, Mr. Butterfield points out: "While cubism had a very, very brief life, it was one which shook western art tradition forever.'' Ironically, despite his fame as a cubist painter, Gleizes abandoned art in later life and became a theologian. Born in 1881, he died in 1953.

"The painting is one of the most important art works to come on the market relating to Bermuda in several years,'' Nicholas Lusher adds.

`Portrait of Juliette' was painted during a 1917 visit.