%C2%A9 Artists Rights Society %28ARS%29%2C New York %2F ADAGP%2C Paris
Compositional Study for "Man with a Pipe", 1920
Fernand Légerexpand_more
India ink and gray wash over graphite on paperexpand_more
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Wilcox in memory of Alice M. O'Brienexpand_more 80.65.2
Not on Viewexpand_more
In his art Léger focuses on the mechanization of the world in the wake of World War I. He juxtaposes the human body with the forms and shapes of modern, industrial imagery, creating compositions that thrive on the cold and calculating precision of pure geometry and Cubist abstraction. In this preparatory study for the painting Man with a Pipe from 1920, Léger fashions figures out of machine parts and turns a café into a tight composition of circles and lines. Details such as the stairs and railing at the right, the table and bench at the lower left, and the puffs of smoke from the man's pipe, are subordinated to the overall sense of dynamic movement and a fragmented, dehumanized world.
Details
- Title
- Compositional Study for "Man with a Pipe"
- Artist Life
- 1881–1955
- Role
- Artist
- Accession Number
- 80.65.2
- Provenance
- (Léonce Rosenberg-Galerie l'Effort Moderne, Paris, sold to O'Brien); Miss Alice O'Brien, Marine-on-St. Croix (until d. 1962); her niece, Mrs. Richard (Julian O'Brien) Wilcox, Marine-on-St. Croix, 1962-80; given to MIA, 1980.
- Curator Approved
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© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris