- 132
FERNAND LÉGER | Un Vase bleu, un tapis rouge
Estimate
300,000 - 500,000 USD
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Description
- Fernand Léger
- Un Vase bleu, un tapis rouge
- Signed F. Leger and dated 52 (lower right); signed F. Leger, titled and dated 52 (on the reverse)
- Oil on canvas
- 21 1/4 by 25 1/2 in.
- 54 by 64.8 cm
- Painted in 1952.
Provenance
Galerie Louis Carré, Paris (acquired from the artist)
Theodore Schempp, New York
Lee Ault & Company, New York
Charles Zadok, Thessaloniki & New York (and sold by the estate: Sotheby's, New York, May 11, 1988, lot 406)
Acquired at the above sale
Theodore Schempp, New York
Lee Ault & Company, New York
Charles Zadok, Thessaloniki & New York (and sold by the estate: Sotheby's, New York, May 11, 1988, lot 406)
Acquired at the above sale
Exhibited
Milwaukee, Milwaukee Art Institute & Cincinnati, Cincinnati Art Museum, Still Life Painting, 1956, n.n.
Literature
Georges Bauquier, Fernand Léger, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint 1952-1953, Paris, 2013, no. 1485, illustrated in color p. 49
Condition
The work is in excellent condition. The canvas is unlined. There is a pindot accretion in the upper right quadrant. There is an extremely minor spot of impact craquelure in the background above the blue vase. There is a pindot area of paint loss in the handle of the blue vase. Under UV light, no inpainting is apparent.
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.
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.
Catalogue Note
The genre of the still life, more than any other subject or motif, functioned as the vehicle for Léger’s myriad metamorphoses as an artist. From dynamic Cubist compositions breaking down traditional perspectives to colorful Purist paintings emphasizing simplicity of line to the graphic works such as the present lot, which presages Pop Art, Léger leveraged the versatility of the still life genre to experiment with form, color and composition. The present work is culmination of these experiments painted near the end of Léger’s life.
Léger’s affinity for primary colors traces back to the principles of Purism, a movement that was a part of the broader rappel à l’ordre in the aftermath of World War I. Pivoting away from Cubism, Léger sought to strip down his art to the pure essence of things. Once dynamic still lifes devolved into forms with simple outlines. Flat planes of color took precedence over the dizzying deconstruction of perspective. Orderly arrangement of objects was prized above a faithful representation of reality.
In Un Vase bleu, un tapis rouge a painted vase and a potted plant stand side by side on an irregularly shaped red rug, their outlines marked in black against a flat background. Léger places the objects in harmonious combination with each other, depicting them volumetrically and letting their form and color assume expressive power.
The simplicity with which the artist has composed the picture is evocative of techniques associated today with the generation of Pop artists and street artists who followed Léger in their elevation of everyday objects. Traces of Léger’s legacy as a still-life painter can be found in the works of such artists as Roy Lichtenstein, David Hockney and Jonas Wood (see fig. 1). James Rosenquist once said of the master: “Léger, I believe, was a colorist... I admired him greatly. I wish I could have met him” (quoted in Fernand Léger, Paris-New York (exhibition catalogue), The Fondation Beyeler, Basel, 2008, p. 148).
Léger’s affinity for primary colors traces back to the principles of Purism, a movement that was a part of the broader rappel à l’ordre in the aftermath of World War I. Pivoting away from Cubism, Léger sought to strip down his art to the pure essence of things. Once dynamic still lifes devolved into forms with simple outlines. Flat planes of color took precedence over the dizzying deconstruction of perspective. Orderly arrangement of objects was prized above a faithful representation of reality.
In Un Vase bleu, un tapis rouge a painted vase and a potted plant stand side by side on an irregularly shaped red rug, their outlines marked in black against a flat background. Léger places the objects in harmonious combination with each other, depicting them volumetrically and letting their form and color assume expressive power.
The simplicity with which the artist has composed the picture is evocative of techniques associated today with the generation of Pop artists and street artists who followed Léger in their elevation of everyday objects. Traces of Léger’s legacy as a still-life painter can be found in the works of such artists as Roy Lichtenstein, David Hockney and Jonas Wood (see fig. 1). James Rosenquist once said of the master: “Léger, I believe, was a colorist... I admired him greatly. I wish I could have met him” (quoted in Fernand Léger, Paris-New York (exhibition catalogue), The Fondation Beyeler, Basel, 2008, p. 148).