29 - FERNAND LÉGER (1881–1955)

FERNAND LÉGER (1881–1955) Gaz de France, circa 1955 Gouache, bears initials at the bottom right, bears a stamp with the initials, certified by Nadia Léger and annotated G-480/4 - Gaz de France (0.47 x 0.37) – c. 1955 on the reverse 46 x 35 cm Provenance: - Versailles Auction, October 21, 1979, catalog no. 31. - Lambert Estate In 1954, Fernand Léger received a commission from Gaz de France for a monumental decoration intended for the gable wall of the administrative building at its Alfortville plant in Val-de-Marne. This composition is part of the artist’s explorations, begun in the late 1940s, into the integration of color into architecture, particularly through ceramics and mosaics. Our gouache is part of this body of preparatory studies. It depicts a stylized flame at the center of an abstract composition of geometric shapes and brightly colored bands, characteristic of Léger’s visual language toward the end of his career. Fernand Léger, who died on August 17, 1955, did not live to see the completion of this commission. The monumental decoration was carried out after his death under the supervision of his wife, Nadia, with the collaboration of Roland and Claude Brice for the ceramics and Lino Melano for the mosaic. A model of the project, dated 1955, is housed at the Fernand Léger National Museum in Biot (inv. MNFL 97011). The final work remains in place on the building in Alfortville, which has been listed as a historic monument since 2011.