Sixty Works by Modern Masters - Flipbook - Page 51
Fernand Léger
Fernand Léger
French, 1881 - 1955
Les Plongeurs aux Perroquets, 1934
Gouache on board
51 x 36¼ inches / 130 x 92 cm
Signed with the artist’s monogram and dated lower right: F.L. 34
Signed again, inscribed and dated on the reverse: Etude pour la composition aux perroquets F Leger 34 N10B
Les Plongeurs aux Perroquets is a
fine example from a group of works
known as ‘Les Cycles’, painted by
Léger in the 1930s. In the series,
Léger set out to depict the human
figure in motion, using themes such
as country outings, constructors,
cyclists and divers to animate his
compositions. Intertwined forms
and a free use of colour define these
works against the rest of the artist’s
oeuvre.
The present picture is a rare
example, for both its large size and
its unusual combination of gouache
with India ink instead of oil paint.
Provenance
Galerie Félix Vercel, Paris
Private Collection
Exhibited
Baden-Baden, Staatlische Kunsthalle, Fernand Léger, peintures, gouaches,
dessins, 19 June-10 September 1967, no.58, illustrated
Berlin, Staatliche Kunsthalle, Fernand Léger, 26 October 1980-January 1981;
this exhibition later travelled to Detroit, Institute of Arts, 28 June-24 August 1980
London, Whitechapel Art Gallery, Fernand Léger, The Late Years,
27 November 1987-21 February 1988, no. 64, illustrated in colour pl. 21
Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Fernand Léger, Zeichnungen, Bilder, Zyklen
1930-1955, March-June 1988, no. 27, illustrated in colour, unpaged
100th anniversaire de la CGT Montreuil, 2-10 December 1995
Basel, Fondation Beyeler, Fernand Léger Paris-New York, June-September
2008, no. 62, illustrated in colour, p. 79
Literature
Pierre Descargues, Fernand Léger, Paris, 1955
Claude Laugier et Michèle Richet, Léger, oeuvres de Fernand Léger
(1881-1955), Paris, Dépôt légal 2e trimestre 1981, no. d'éditeur 235, p. 83,
illustrated p. 82, pl. e.
Laurence Saphire, Fernand Léger, Graphic Works, Blue Moon Press,
New York, 1985, p. 272
"What does that represent? There was
never any question in plastic art, in poetry,
in music, of representing anything. It is a
matter of making something beautiful,
moving, or dramatic - this is by no
means the same thing."
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