Fernand Léger
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Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (February 4, 1881 - August 17, 1955) was a French artist.
Born in the Argentan, Orne, Basse-Normandie Region of France, at age 19 Léger moved to the Montparnasse Quarter of Paris and supported himself as an architectural draftsman. His earliest known drawings were primarily influenced by Impressionism.
In 1911 he joined with several other artists to form the Puteaux Group, an offshoot of the Cubist movement. From then until 1914, Léger’s work became increasingly abstract. He developed a sparse vocabulary of mostly cylindrical forms, and he started to limit his palette to the primary colours plus black and white, rendered in rough patches. Léger served in the military during World War I, where he almost died after being the victim of a mustard gas attack by the Germans. Following the war, from 1917 onwards, his "mechanical" period evolved, in which figures and objects are characterized by tubular, machinelike forms, sleekly rendered. In 1924, Léger created the iconic film, Ballet mécanique, as an extension to his exploration into the mechanical and machine-like visuals. In the 1930s, the character of Léger's work gradually changed as organic and irregular forms assumed greater importance.
In 1935, the Museum of Modern Art in New York presented an exhibition of his work. Léger lived in the United States during World War II and returned to France in 1945. During this period his work became less abstract, and he produced many monumental figure compositions depicting scenes of popular life featuring acrobats, construction workers, divers, and country outings. His varied projects included book illustrations, murals, stained-glass windows, mosaics, polychrome ceramic sculptures, and set and costume designs.
Fernand Léger died at his home in 1955 and is buried in the Cimetière de Gif-sur-Yvette, Essonne, France.
In November of 2003, his painting, "La femme en rouge et vert" sold for US$22,407,500. His sculptures have been selling in excess of US$8 million.
In 1960 The Musée Fernand Léger was opened in Biot, Alpes-Maritimes, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Region of France.
External links
- [Artcyclopedia] - Links to Léger's works
- [Artchive] - Biography and images of Léger's works
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