Sixty Works by Modern Masters - Flipbook - Page 65
Fernand Léger
Fernand Léger
French, 1881 - 1955
La Belle Equipe, (Les Cyclistes), 1944
Gouache on paper
12 x 18½ inches / 30.8 x 47 cm
Signed and dated lower right: F.L. 44
La Belle Equipe is an outstanding
example from Léger’s series depicting
figures at leisure, in which images
of amateur cyclists frequently
feature. The most celebrated work
of the series, Les Loisirs (Hommage
à David), (Paris, Musée National
d’Art Moderne: Centre Georges
Pompidou), represents the final
version of a composition for which
the present work is an accomplished
and resolved study. Like many of
Léger’s pieces from this period, the
present example powerfully conjures
the dynamism of an emerging
modern society.
Provenance
The Artist
Harold Diamond, New York
Private collection, Paris
Jeffrey H. Loria collection, New York
This painting is accompanied by a
certificate of authentication kindly
issued by Irus Hansma
"The realistic value of a work
is completely independent of its
properties in terms of content."
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