Personnage au pantalon bleu

In the early 1930s, James Johnson Sweeney and his family spent half of each year in Paris, where he was editor of the literary magazine Transitions. When the Germans occupied Paris, they confiscated all of his young daughter Ann's toys. In a show of compassion and warmth, Léger gave this colorful drawing to his friends' daughter Ann with a dedication and sketch of a little toy train. In 1935, Sweeney and his family moved permanently to New York City, where Sweeney was appointed by Alfred Barr as Director of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art.