Pictures of the Month | January 2009
Picture of the Month
January 2009
Composition with Fruit [1938]
by Fernand Léger (1881-1955)
This bold, abstract still life is an interesting example of both the genre and of Fernand Léger’s work. Still life, traditionally regarded as the lowest type of pictorial subject, nevertheless has often had domestic or symbolic themes, and offers artists an unparalleled freedom to arrange objects for the sake of composition. This is clearly demonstrated in Léger’s Composition with Fruit.
A contemporary of Picasso and Braque, Léger is perhaps most widely known for his Cubist–inspired works of near abstraction. However, he was an artist who assimilated many influences and worked in a variety of media including collage, printmaking, photography, film and even ceramics. As shown here by the fruit on the left of the picture, he increasingly introduced organic forms into his still lifes during the 1920s and 1930s, developing a cult of the object by 1934. He was a firm believer that art should reflect the society that produced it, leading him to see beauty in the industrial urban world — he has been known as a ‘Tubist’ due to the resemblance that some of the objects, and even the limbs of figures, in his paintings bear to industrial metal pipes. Another increasingly frequent subject matter in Léger’s work was the bourgeois interior.
In this picture, bold, rectilinear geometric forms contrast with the curved fruit and circular shapes. The dominant lines emphasize the flat expanses of primary and secondary colours while also suggesting an enclosed space. Together, these elements create an impersonal ‘machine-tooled’ effect, reflecting Leger’s obsession with the machine age and his passion for technology. However, unlike the even areas of colour, there are tonal variations in the blacks and whites which make certain planes appear to advance or recede. This subtle device owes more to the old masters than to mass production techniques.
Overall this work clearly demonstrates Léger’s interest in volume, forms, pure colour and composition and is a shining example of how he combined modern and abstract ideas while preserving the idealism and grandeur of earlier classical art. However, the debate as to whether the shapes on the fruit are worms or leaves remains.
Supplied by Natalie Osborne, Gallery Intern
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