Lot Essay
Lger's La femme au vase vert indicates the artist's enduring fascination with the figure and his inclination to present the human form in a stylized manner. Both the female figure and the flowers that she holds are presented as stylized symbols of nature. Flowers, in the traditional language of portraiture, have symbolized the natural beauty of the sitter. The open blossom of the calla lily leads the viewer's gaze to the ripe, round bosom of the figure, whose blue drape has fallen around her waist. The classic simplicity of the figure typifies Lger's recurring theme of the heroic commoner, whose inherent dignity the artist celebrates.
Lger's late paintings, including La femme au vase vert, reflect the artist's commitment to the "realism" movement of the 1950s, which Peter de Francia defines as: "implied figuration, literary or narrative subjects, an edifying content usually stressing emulative morality, and a rejection of experimentation" (P. de Francia, Fernand Lger, New Haven, 1983, p. 207). Of the late works, de Francia writes:
In the last decade of his working life, Lger was completely absorbed in endeavouring to create a language in which a balance could be established between familiar imagery, an architectural function of painting, and themes stressing the permanence of man. The problem was an extraordinary difficult one. The figures in his paintings could easily have become the equivalent of cult images. Lger avoided this by making them innately approachable. Intensity of reality is achieved by the contrast of prosaic objects with pictorial artifice (Ibid., p. 229).
Lger's late paintings, including La femme au vase vert, reflect the artist's commitment to the "realism" movement of the 1950s, which Peter de Francia defines as: "implied figuration, literary or narrative subjects, an edifying content usually stressing emulative morality, and a rejection of experimentation" (P. de Francia, Fernand Lger, New Haven, 1983, p. 207). Of the late works, de Francia writes:
In the last decade of his working life, Lger was completely absorbed in endeavouring to create a language in which a balance could be established between familiar imagery, an architectural function of painting, and themes stressing the permanence of man. The problem was an extraordinary difficult one. The figures in his paintings could easily have become the equivalent of cult images. Lger avoided this by making them innately approachable. Intensity of reality is achieved by the contrast of prosaic objects with pictorial artifice (Ibid., p. 229).