Fernand Léger

Galerie Bourdon, Paris (acquired directly from the artist)
Private Collection, France (acquired from the above circa 1950-60)
Private Collection, France (by descent from the above and sold: Sotheby's, Paris, May 30, 2012, lot 21)
Acquired at the above sale

The canvas is not lined. A close inspection reveals a few artist's pinholes and some light frame abrasion along the edges with associated small spots of retouching visible under UV light. Examination under UV light reveals some of the artist's pentimenti and three very minor spots of retouching to the white form towards the centre of the right edge. There are three small spots of fluorescence in the yellow pigment of the lower left quadrant and one tiny spot of fluorescence in the white pigment towards the centre of the left edge and another in the black pigment towards the centre of the right edge. This work is in very good condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

From 1929 to 1930, Léger’s decorative concepts permeated many of his object paintings. This period marks an important moment in the artist’s move away from the rigid, mechanical vocabulary that characterized his earlier work and his embrace of a more organic, less narrative aesthetic. This can be seen in the present work, Composition sur fond bleu, with its quasi-abstract forms, meticulously drawn and painted, that seem to float in a velvety blue space devoid of depth. Abandoning any spatial references of the traditional still life, Léger definitively frees his objects from the geometric structure of the painting and lets them float in tri-colored space imbued with a sense of enchantment. Léger’s main epiphany during this period was that he needed to liberate painting from any subject or narrative, once stating: “The subject in painting has already been destroyed, just as avant-garde film destroyed the storyline” (quoted in Jean Cassou & Jean Leymarie, Fernand Léger: Drawings and Gouaches, New York, 1973, p. 87). He realized that he needed to unshackle the object from its setting, to extract it from its conventional context and relationships, and let it exist for its own sake in a new isolated, revitalized state. “In painting, the strongest restraint has been that of subject matter upon composition, imposed by the Italian Renaissance. The effort towards freedom began with the Impressionists and has continued to express itself until our day… the feeling for the object is already in primitive pictures—in works of the high periods of Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek, Roman and Gothic art. The moderns are going to develop it, isolate it, and extract every possible result of it” (quoted in “The New Realism” in Edward F. Fry, ed., Fernand Léger: Functions of Painting, New York, 1973, p. 109). 

A key theoretical component of Léger’s New Realism was the concept of “the object in space” perfectly exemplified in the present work. Composition sur fond bleu invites us into an indeterminate and ambiguous space, a place devoid of any historical or cultural references, and where time appears to have been suspended or enchanted. It is by focusing on this context—or lack of, rather—that we begin to understand Léger’s contribution to what is widely acknowledged as the  most important and influential artistic breakthrough of the early twentieth century, that of recontextualizing familiar imagery in an effort to challenge, or at least revitalize, our common perceptions and interpretations. Léger has here freed form from the static structures that had previously held their contents in place, thereby imbuing his new works with a newfound atmosphere of fluctuation and fluidity, echoed by the organic imagery that winds its way in among the more solid elements.