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Lot Essay
In the late 1930s, Fernand Léger became increasingly intrigued by the notion of shapes appearing to float against the neutral background of open space. Léger achieved that expression through the lyrical juxtaposition of two opposing forms, the geometric and the organic; the former fixed and monumental, the latter often superimposed and seemingly in a state of flux against the static objects behind. In Composition aux trois fleurs, he also uses white space both as a compositional element and as a structural division between the color planes—red, blue, green, yellow—and create an interaction between actual and painted space and light.
It was Léger's intent that these forms not be immediately decipherable at a glance, but they are nevertheless simple in their conception, like those on the commercial advertisements and posters that the artist so admired. It was in fact Léger's interest during the mid-1930s to create a visual vocabulary and pictorial forms that would function effectively when translated into a monumental scale and become the basis for a new popular art.
"I dispersed my objects in space and kept them all together while at the same time making them radiate out from the surface of the picture. A tricky interplay of harmonies and rhythms made up of background and surface colors, guidelines, distances and oppositions... In this new phase... freedom of composition attains infinity. A total liberty that will permit the production of compositions from imagination in which the creative fancy will be able to reveal itself and develop... Beauty is everywhere, in the object, in the fragment, in purely invented forms. But what is needed is to develop one's sensibility so as to be capable of distinguishing what is beautiful from what is not beautiful" (F. Léger quoted in W. Schmalenbach, Fernand Léger, New York, 1976, p. 132).
Léger visited America for the third time in 1938, once again finding inspiration and stimulation in the vitality and novelty of New York. "The American period was a time of great liberation in Léger's work—liberation of color from the boundaries of design, liberation of elements within the explosive compositions, and liberation in the selection of new themes. It was also a time of exploration and hard work, in response to the power and harshness of a new land. The resulting style was not destined to continue on its initial level of high-pitched intensity but, as Léger absorbed and assimilated the experiences of these years, it was to become a permanent presence in his subsequent work" (C. Kolik, "Léger and America" in exh. cat. Fernand Léger, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, New York, 1982, p. 59).
It was Léger's intent that these forms not be immediately decipherable at a glance, but they are nevertheless simple in their conception, like those on the commercial advertisements and posters that the artist so admired. It was in fact Léger's interest during the mid-1930s to create a visual vocabulary and pictorial forms that would function effectively when translated into a monumental scale and become the basis for a new popular art.
"I dispersed my objects in space and kept them all together while at the same time making them radiate out from the surface of the picture. A tricky interplay of harmonies and rhythms made up of background and surface colors, guidelines, distances and oppositions... In this new phase... freedom of composition attains infinity. A total liberty that will permit the production of compositions from imagination in which the creative fancy will be able to reveal itself and develop... Beauty is everywhere, in the object, in the fragment, in purely invented forms. But what is needed is to develop one's sensibility so as to be capable of distinguishing what is beautiful from what is not beautiful" (F. Léger quoted in W. Schmalenbach, Fernand Léger, New York, 1976, p. 132).
Léger visited America for the third time in 1938, once again finding inspiration and stimulation in the vitality and novelty of New York. "The American period was a time of great liberation in Léger's work—liberation of color from the boundaries of design, liberation of elements within the explosive compositions, and liberation in the selection of new themes. It was also a time of exploration and hard work, in response to the power and harshness of a new land. The resulting style was not destined to continue on its initial level of high-pitched intensity but, as Léger absorbed and assimilated the experiences of these years, it was to become a permanent presence in his subsequent work" (C. Kolik, "Léger and America" in exh. cat. Fernand Léger, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, New York, 1982, p. 59).