.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Beginning in the 1920s, Léger became increasingly interested in the decorative and muralistic possibilities of his work. This painting is part of a monumental series produced in the early 1950s, in which Léger studied a vertical geometric form, outlined in black. In the present work, the artist set that graphic motif against a vibrant field of yellow, charging the work with electricity. While the ‘fond jaune’ appears boldly opaque from a distance, the background in fact possesses a subtly varied facture.
Léger’s serial experiments with shape and hue are a signature aspect of his abstract painting practice. As the artist wrote, "The plastic life, the picture, is made up of harmonious relationships among volumes, lines and colors. These are the three forces that must govern works of art. If, in organizing these three essential elements harmoniously, one finds that objects, elements of reality, can enter into the composition, it may be better and may give the work more richness. But they must be subordinated to the three essential elements mentioned above...Sometimes these relationships are merely decorative when they are abstract. But if objects figure in the composition—free objects with a genuine plastic value—pictures result that have as much variety and profundity as any with an imitative subject" (quoted in E.F. Fry, ed., Fernand Léger: Functions of Paintings, New York, 1973, pp. 155, 168 and 169).
This painting was part of the artist's estate left to his wife Nadja, and is numbered 298 on the reverse of the canvas. Affixed to the reverse is a Musée Léger, Biot label that was signed by Georges Bauquier and marked with his fingerprints. The label was most likely added on the occasion of a monographic exhibition held at the Städtische Kunsthalle in Dusseldorf from December 1969 to February 1970. Nadja and Bauquier stored many works from the artist’s estate at the Musée Leger; however, this painting was not part of the group of works donated to the French State in 1969, when the private museum was made public.
Léger’s serial experiments with shape and hue are a signature aspect of his abstract painting practice. As the artist wrote, "The plastic life, the picture, is made up of harmonious relationships among volumes, lines and colors. These are the three forces that must govern works of art. If, in organizing these three essential elements harmoniously, one finds that objects, elements of reality, can enter into the composition, it may be better and may give the work more richness. But they must be subordinated to the three essential elements mentioned above...Sometimes these relationships are merely decorative when they are abstract. But if objects figure in the composition—free objects with a genuine plastic value—pictures result that have as much variety and profundity as any with an imitative subject" (quoted in E.F. Fry, ed., Fernand Léger: Functions of Paintings, New York, 1973, pp. 155, 168 and 169).
This painting was part of the artist's estate left to his wife Nadja, and is numbered 298 on the reverse of the canvas. Affixed to the reverse is a Musée Léger, Biot label that was signed by Georges Bauquier and marked with his fingerprints. The label was most likely added on the occasion of a monographic exhibition held at the Städtische Kunsthalle in Dusseldorf from December 1969 to February 1970. Nadja and Bauquier stored many works from the artist’s estate at the Musée Leger; however, this painting was not part of the group of works donated to the French State in 1969, when the private museum was made public.