Fernand LégerComposition sur fond jaune1952
1952
About the Item
- Creator:Fernand Léger (1881-1955, French)
- Creation Year:1952
- Dimensions:Height: 25.75 in (65.41 cm)Width: 19.75 in (50.17 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Palo Alto, CA
- Reference Number:
Fernand Léger
A painter as well as a filmmaker, illustrator, stage-set designer, ceramicist and printmaker, Fernand Léger was one of the most prolific artists of the first half of the 20th century. His early mature work as a Cubist was marked by the use of bold colors and contrasts and a visual vocabulary inspired by industrial technology. In his later career, Léger turned to idiomatic, almost naïve depictions of human figures, in a belief that his work should be accessible to ordinary people and relevant to their lives.
Born in Normandy, the son of a cattle trader, Léger worked as an architectural draftsman in Paris while studying art. By 1908 he was a member of an artistic circle that included Marc Chagall, Robert Delaunay, sculptor Jacques Lipchitz, and the poet Guillaume Appolinaire, and through them he became connected to the Cubists. As opposed to the flat planes and neutral hues seen in the paintings of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, Léger’s Cubist abstractions were devised with vivid colors and forms that had dimensionality. Soon after his army service in World War I — he was gassed at the Battle of Verdun — Léger entered his “mechanical” period. Convinced that technology would improve the human condition, he painted compositions of tubular shapes and cylinders that are reminiscent of machine parts. In other work, Léger sought to capture the bustle and brio of modern life with references to railroad stations, factories, street signs and billboards.
Léger had also emerged from the trenches with a deep concern to make his art engage the sorts of men and women he had met during the war. He sought to bring his work to a wider audience through film, theater sets and book illustrations. In the 1920s, influenced by Purism — a variant on Cubism that promoted a simpler and more direct approach to forms and compositions — Léger produced a series of paintings depicting everyday objects: a soda siphon, an accordion, a guitar and vase. The human figure returned to his work. By 1930, pure abstraction disappeared almost completely from Léger’s art in favor of simple studies of people. Their boldly outlined forms, placed against a bright background, can be regarded as an assemblage of parts — yet in these representations of dancers, acrobats and folks on bicycles, Léger seems to be articulating a kind of kinship and affection. You will see from the works on offer why Fernand Léger is often regarded as the warmest and most humane of the great modern artists.
Find a collection of original Fernand Léger art today on 1stDibs.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Palo Alto, CA
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 7 days of delivery.
- Knee, from the Casts from Untitled seriesBy Jasper JohnsLocated in Palo Alto, CACreated in 1974, this color lithograph on Richard de Bas paper is hand-signed by Jasper Johns (Augusta, 1930 - ) in pencil in the lower right margin. Numbered from the edition of 47 ...Category
1970s Modern Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- ToreroBy Georges BraqueLocated in Palo Alto, CAToreros seek to elicit inspiration and art from their work. Their intentions are not to deliberately cause harm the bull, but create an emotional connection with the crowd through th...Category
1950s Modern Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Tri-Color IIBy Richard DiebenkornLocated in Palo Alto, CAChuck Close Self Portrait, 2012 is hand-signed by Chuck Close (Washington, 1940 - New York, 2021) in pencil in the lower right margin and is ...Category
1980s Abstract Expressionist Figurative Prints
MaterialsEtching, Aquatint
- Next Room (Marrakitch)By Robert RauschenbergLocated in Palo Alto, CACreated in 2000, this color screenprint is hand-signed by Robert Rauschenberg (Port Arthur, 1925 - Captiva, 2008) in pencil in the lower left margin and is numbered from the edition ...Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsScreen
- L.A.S.F. #3By Ed RuschaLocated in Palo Alto, CACreated in 2003, this color soft-ground etching is hand-signed by Ed Ruscha (Nebraska, 1937 - ) in pencil in the lower right margin. Numbered from the edition of 35 in pencil in the ...Category
Early 2000s Abstract Expressionist Figurative Prints
MaterialsEtching
- EinsteinBy Mr. BrainwashLocated in Palo Alto, CAMr. Brainwash Einstein, 2023 is a vibrant and stimulating work featuring Albert Einstein, a pillar of history and modern physics, amid the color and cacophony of modern life. Einstei...Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Prints
MaterialsMixed Media, Screen
- Edward Sacks, Seated FigureLocated in New York, NYLittle is known about the artist, Edward (Ed) Sacks, although this print may have been made at the Art Students League in NYC. it is a cross between, as the title suggests, a Seated ...Category
1940s American Modern Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Modern British art, Scottish Modernist printLocated in Harkstead, GBThese wonderful lithographs from the imagination of the Glasgow artist Robert Colquhoun are full of colour and dynamism. Robert Colquhoun (1914-1962) Poems of Sleep and dream Three ...Category
Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Prints
MaterialsPaper, Lithograph
- Modern British art, Scottish Modernist printLocated in Harkstead, GBThese wonderful lithographs from the imagination of the Glasgow artist Robert Colquhoun are full of colour and dynamism. Robert Colquhoun (1914-1962) Poems of Sleep and dream Three ...Category
Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Prints
MaterialsPaper, Lithograph
- After Pablo Picasso - Wildlife of Antibes - LithographLocated in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CHAfter Pablo PICASSO (1881-1973) One plate from the book: Jaime Sabartés. "Faunes et flore d'Antibes" (Greenwich, Conn: New York Graphic Society, 1960). Color Lithograph 63 x 47 cm ...Category
1950s Modern Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Red Sphere on Yellow Ground, mid-century modern abstract lithographBy Alexander CalderLocated in Beachwood, OHAlexander Calder (American, 1898-1976) Red Sphere on Yellow Ground, c. 1970 Lithograph in colors Edition: 74/150 22 x 30 inches 37.5 x 29.5 inches, framed ...Category
1970s Modern Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Study for a Bullfight, Triptych 1987By Francis BaconLocated in London, GBOriginal lithograph in colours on Arches watermarked paper, with full margins, framed Central panel from the triptych of the same title Signed by the artist in pencil, lower right on...Category
1980s Modern Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph