Fernand Léger was a French painter who lived from 1881 to 1955. He initially studied as an architect and when he moved to Paris in 1900 he worked as a draftsman. He then studied at two art schools: Ecole des Arts Decoratifs and the Academie Julian, but not until age 25 did he begin painting more diligently. In 1909 he met fellow avante-garde painters Marc Chagall, Robert Delaunay, and sculptor Alexander Archipenko. It wouldn't be long before Léger would be considered a major painter in the cubist style.
He was a member of the Puteaux Group, an offshoot of cubism. They used elements of tubular, and cubistic forms with primary and neutral colors in their work. Leger's use of cylindrical shapes in his paintings began to be called tubism by some people; his own personal twist (literally) on cubism. His increasingly abstract style during this time was also influenced by Italian futurism; Russian painter Kazemir Malevich was a also a futurist, and is who I thought of Immediately upon first seeing Leger's work.
"Enormous enlargements of an object or a fragment give it a personality it never had before, and in this way, it can become a vehicle of entirely new lyric and plastic power." -Fernand Léger
Still Life with a Beer Mug, 1921, Fernand Léger
Leger lived in the United States during world war II and taught at Yale, returning to Paris in 1945 where he opened an art academy. He moved away from his earlier more completely abstract style and began a new theme of his work: to elevate the common man with his paintings. He emphasized the working class using acrobats, cyclists, and workmen, painted in clear, flat colors. This quote from him below, reflects a recurring theme here at Modern Art Quotes:
"The realistic value of a work is completely independent of its properties in terms of content. " -Fernand Léger
That theme is: that regardless of how perfectly a painting might look like an object from life, if that object or scene from life is not interesting, than neither is the painting. You think this truth would be self-evident but it isn't to a lot of realist painters, who continue to paint dull lifeless repetitive landscapes of bowls, and jars, vegetables, fruits, etc. You cannot say that about Leger's art though, which connects the Cubists, Futurism, the working class, and the modern age.
Related Links:
Three Women, 1921 Fernand Léger
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2 comments:
I want to make sure I'm getting your point here because it's one I've thought about before. I think you are saying that if the subject matter of a painting is boring, then the painting is boring no matter how well done it is. Is that your point?
Not sure I agree but since I do both photography and painting, I've often been bemused by the fact that a painter can paint a jar (as you say) and show the piece and put a hefty price tag on it. If a photographer shot a jar and put it on the wall, it would probably be laughed at. The content of a photography must be itself interesting because there is relatively little technique involved in the photo (there are exceptions to this but most photography is pretty "straight"). Painting seems to be so much more about technique than content for many people.
On the other hand, Van Gogh painted some pretty mean flowers that weren't that interesting as a subject.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding the post, though.
BTW, thanks for posting these informative introductions to various painters that may not be so well known. I always learn something here...
Hi Bob, your comments and readership is appreciated! Thanks for your compliments. You really got me thinking with your comment here, so here goes...... Keep in mind I have respect for all art this is just my personal approach and philosophy. You're right about Van Gogh's flowers, they are more than just flowers. That's funny I did think about that exact point while I was writing this, so sunflowers are the one exception (well also I'm from Kansas the Sunflower state so I'm partial to them). I appreciate an artist's technique and am not trying to discount that, but just like in guitar, anybody can learn to play scales really fast up and down the guitar, and that's going to impress a lot of people, but probably not a lot of people either. Now give me an original live jazz composition, that's impressive. It's the same as painting, I was acclaimed in my art classes in high-school for drawing still lifes so perfect, but I could not have been more bored. All art is good in the sense that someone somewhere appreciates it and enjoys it, I personally just don't see the value in repetition, I prefer passion or originality. Repetition and technique is necessary obviously for a foundation in art, but it's like writing; once you know the rules, a good writer breaks them.
I like what Basquiat said in an interview once, when being pestered about questions why his style was so primitive, he said "I can draw you know,... " so it's not like he picked up a paintbrush and drew crude images because that's the first time he ever painted or anything. It's a choice in style, and the choice to express individually in a non-objective way is what I really dig. I can draw too,....
To be fair I am not saying that the subject matter needs to be exciting, but that using images at all that are drawn directly from life can be boring. I prefer artwork that is completely out of the imagination and not from life at all. Before the 19th century almost all artists had the role of recreating life, I am not discounting that, but beginning in the 19th century and especially in the 20th century artists were afforded the luxury of not having to fill that role of being the 'camera', the camera changed that.
Take for example Leger's quote from above....
"Enormous enlargements of an object or a fragment..." Okay it might be a still life depicting real objects but he's giving me something new, new style, new perspective. I guess my point is still lifes or subject matter from life that's painted in ultra realism style, is just not as interesting to me, unless the artist puts his own stamp on it, something other than just a photographic quality reproduction, that's boring. (Andrew Wyeth is the exception, his work has abstract quality to it, see my post on him.) whew!
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