Leger, Fernand

(1881-1955)

   painter

   An influence on cubism, constructivism, and modern commercial poster art, Fernand Leger was born in Argentan and studied art and architecture in Caen and Paris. Beginning in 1910, he was an important member and exhibitor of the Salon des Independents, in Paris. Most of his early works were cubist (Nus dans la forêt, 1910; La Noce, 1911; Les Fumées dans les toits, 1911; Paris par la fenêtre, 1911; La Femme en bleu, 1912; L'Escalier, 1914). Along with Georges braque and Pablo Picasso, Leger played a significant role in the development and dissemination of the cubist style. Leger's subsequent work was influenced by his experiences in World War I. He began to employ symbols from the industrial world and to depict his subjects in machinelike forms (Les Fumeurs, 1918; La Partie des cartes, 1918). His work had an important effect on the development of neoplasticism in the Netherlands and on that of constructivism in the Soviet Union. He was also highly successful as a sculptor and ceramicist, and a creator of tapestries and mosaics. In his later paintings, Leger separated his figures from color and, in this regard, had an indirect influence on surrealism (La Jaconde aux clés, 1940; Les Plangeurs, 1940-46; Adieu New York, 1947). His Le Grand Parade (1954) in the Guggenheim Museum, New York City, is a monumental example also of this original style in which color is laid on the canvas to form a separate composition.