Fernand Léger

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Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (February 4, 1881 - August 17, 1955) was a French painter, sculptor, and filmmaker.

Born in the Argentan, Orne, Basse-Normandie, at age 19 Léger moved to the Montparnasse area of Paris and supported himself as an architectural draftsman. His earliest known drawings were primarily influenced by Impressionism.

In 1911 he joined with several other artists to form the Puteaux Group, an offshoot of the Cubist movement. From then until 1914, Léger's work became increasingly abstract. He developed a sparse vocabulary of mostly cylindrical forms, and he started to limit his palette to the primary colours plus black and white, rendered in rough patches.

Léger served in the French Army during World War I, and almost died after being the victim of a mustard gas attack by the German troops. From 1917 onwards, he entered his "mechanical" period, during which the figures and objects he created were characterized by sleekly rendered tubular and machine-like forms.

In 1924, with Dudley Murphy, Léger created the iconic and Futurism-influenced film, Ballet Mécanique, as an extension to his exploration into the mechanical and machine-like visuals; during the period, he also began collaborating with Amédée Ozenfant. In the 1930s, the character of Léger's work gradually changed as organic and irregular forms assumed greater importance.

The Railway Crossing, 1919, The Art Institute of Chicago

In 1935, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City presented an exhibition of his work. Léger lived in the United States during World War II, and returned to France in 1945. During this period his work became less abstract, and he produced many monumental figure compositions depicting scenes of popular life featuring acrobats, construction workers, divers, and country outings. His varied projects included book illustrations, murals, stained-glass windows, mosaics, polychrome ceramic sculptures, and set and costume designs.

Fernand Léger died at his home in 1955 and is buried in Gif-sur-Yvette, Essonne.

In November of 2003, his painting, La femme en rouge et vert sold for 22,407,500 United States dollars. His sculptures have been selling in excess of 8 million dollars.

In 1960 The Musée Fernand Léger was opened in Biot, Alpes-Maritimes.