Fernand Leger - Hardcover

Werener Schmalenbach

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0810912635 ISBN 13: 9780810912632

Publisher: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1986

Synopsis

Fernand Lager is the only major modern artist to choose modernity itself as his subject. From his early series Contrastes de formes of 1913-14--the first fully abstract works to emerge from Cubism--through his paintings of construction workers from the late 1940s and early 1950s, his enduring subject was the pulse and dynamism of everyday life. Lager saw the 20th century environment as a "state of contrasts," a condition that he translated into art through forceful juxtaposition of shape, color, and line. His attempt to reconcile the formal concerns of artmaking with issues of social responsibility continues to be relevant to the art world of today. Accompanying texts recount Lager's experience of and interest in America and America's interest in him; explore refractions of Lager's interests in the work of more recent artists; and discuss Lager's ambition to make an art reflecting the "new visual state" of modern life. An illustrated chronology tells the story of the artist's life, focusing on his time in America, the plate section is complemented by a series of short essays tracing the formal and thematic developments in his art, and a selected bibliography and detailed exhibition history complete the book.This book was published to accompany the 1998 retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

About this title

About the Author:

Fernand Léger was born in 1881 in north-western France, the only child of a cattle breeder and his wife. His early training was in architecture and draftsmanship; he began painting seriously upon moving to Paris in 1903. As a young artist, he exhibited regularly at the Salon d'Automne and was part of a circle that included Brancusi, Apollinaire, and the Puteaux group. His public debut as an avant-garde artist occurred in 1911, when one of his paintings was hung in the Cubist room at the Salon des Indépendants. Léger died in 1955.

Review:

The reproductions in Fernand Léger show that his art went beyond Cubist shapes, primary colors and machine imagery; his merging of Cubist stasis with undulating volume can only be called masterly. -- The New York Times Book Review, Zoe H. Rice

About this edition

• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
• Publication date: 1986
• ISBN 10: 0810912635
• ISBN 13: 9780810912632
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 128
• Illustrator: Joseph Fernand Henri Léger