Lot Essay
The present gouache is a study for the series of paintings Les constructeurs, which culminated in the definitive version of this subject in 1950 (coll. Musée National Fernand Léger, Biot).
It was going to Chevreuse that the idea first came to me. Three pylons of high-tension cables were being built along the road. Men were perched on them, working. I was struck by the contrast between them, the metallic architecture which surrounded them and the clouds above. Lost in the rigid, hard, hostile surroundings the men appeared tiny. I wanted to render this in my paintings, without making any concessions. I evaluated the human factor, the sky, the clouds and the metal in the most exact terms.
If I have stressed the figures of my workers more, if they are depicted with greater individualization, it is because the violent contrast between them and the metallic geometry surrounding them is of maximum intensity... (F. Léger, quoted in P. de Francia, op. cit., pp. 198-199)
The incorporation of the bicycle, as well as the placement of the girders and some of the figures, corresponds closely to an oil painting also done in 1950. In the definitive version of Les constructeurs Léger eliminated the bicycle, and reduced the number of workmen from nine to six. In order to depict this subject as accurately as possible, Léger hung one version of Les constructeurs in the cafeteria of a Renault factory, where workers could study it during their meals and offer their comments.
This gouache also served as a preliminary study for an aquatint with serigraphed color (see L. Saphire and F. Maurlot, Fernand Léger, The Complete Graphic Work, New York, 1978, no. 128).
It was going to Chevreuse that the idea first came to me. Three pylons of high-tension cables were being built along the road. Men were perched on them, working. I was struck by the contrast between them, the metallic architecture which surrounded them and the clouds above. Lost in the rigid, hard, hostile surroundings the men appeared tiny. I wanted to render this in my paintings, without making any concessions. I evaluated the human factor, the sky, the clouds and the metal in the most exact terms.
If I have stressed the figures of my workers more, if they are depicted with greater individualization, it is because the violent contrast between them and the metallic geometry surrounding them is of maximum intensity... (F. Léger, quoted in P. de Francia, op. cit., pp. 198-199)
The incorporation of the bicycle, as well as the placement of the girders and some of the figures, corresponds closely to an oil painting also done in 1950. In the definitive version of Les constructeurs Léger eliminated the bicycle, and reduced the number of workmen from nine to six. In order to depict this subject as accurately as possible, Léger hung one version of Les constructeurs in the cafeteria of a Renault factory, where workers could study it during their meals and offer their comments.
This gouache also served as a preliminary study for an aquatint with serigraphed color (see L. Saphire and F. Maurlot, Fernand Léger, The Complete Graphic Work, New York, 1978, no. 128).