526 - Fernand Léger (Argentan 1881 - 1955 Gif-sur-Yvette)

Fernand Léger (Argentan 1881 - 1955 Gif-sur-Yvette) Composition Red & Yellow, 1950 color screen printing/paper 31,5 x 22 cm signed Leger, numbered 91/200 monogrammed and dated in the plate F.L. 50 SCHÄTZPREIS / ESTIMATE € 250 - 400 STARTPREIS / STARTING PRICE € 250 Fernand Léger was a French painter, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor, and filmmaker, as well as a central figure of European modernism. Building upon Cubism, he developed a distinctive visual language characterized by clear contours, bold colors, and monumentally simplified forms. His work focused on the metropolis, technology, labor, and modern life. Joseph Fernand Henri Léger was born on February 4, 1881, in Argentan, Normandy. After training in architecture in Caen, he moved to Paris in 1900, where he initially worked as an architectural draftsman and attended the Académie Julian. The 1907 Cézanne retrospective proved pivotal to his artistic development. Around 1909, he lived at the La Ruche artists' colony in Montparnasse and, through Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, encountered the Cubism of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. From this, he developed his own formal language—often referred to as "Tubism"—composed of cylindrical and tubular shapes. World War I had a lasting impact on Léger. The post-1918 period saw the emergence of his "mechanical period," in which figures, technical objects, and architecture appear rhythmically structured. In addition to painting, he worked in film, set design, book design, and mural decoration; in 1924, he collaborated with Dudley Murphy and Man Ray on the experimental film Ballet mécanique. During World War II, he lived and taught in the United States. After returning to France, he created murals, stained-glass windows, mosaics, and tapestries. In 1955, he received the Grand Prize at the São Paulo Biennial and died on August 17 of that same year in Gif-sur-Yvette. PLEASE NOTE: The purchase price consists of the highest bid plus the buyer's premium, sales tax and, if applicable, the fee of artists resale rights and platform fee. In the case of normal taxation (marked ° at the estimate), a premium of 24% is added to the highest bid. The mandatory sales tax is added to the sum of the highest bid, the buyer's premium and platform fee. This amounts to 13% for paintings, drawings, graphic works and sculptures and 20% for photographs and all other items. The buyer's premium amounts to 28% in case of differential taxation. The sales tax is included in the differential taxation.