Fernand Léger: dipinti e dove vederli

Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (Argentan, 4 febbraio 1881 – Gif-sur-Yvette, 17 agosto 1955) è stato un pittore francese, nonché creatore di cartoni di arazzi e di vetrate, decoratore, ceramista, scultore, disegnatore, illustratore, costumista, scenografo e teorico dell'arte.

Continua su Wikipedia

Cronaca

1881
Nascita · 4 febbraio 1881
Argentan

1890
Formazione · 1890–1899
College in Argentan and architectural training
In 1890–1896 Léger attends the college in Argentan and a church school in Tinchebray, and in 1897–1899 trains as an architect. His father, Henri Armand Léger, a cattle breeder, died a few years after his son's birth; his mother, Marie Adèle Dunon, lived on her farm in Lisores.

1900
Carriera · 1900–1903
Move to Paris and service in the sappers
In 1900 Léger moves to Paris and supports himself as an architectural draftsman. In 1902–1903 he serves in the 2nd sapper regiment at Versailles.
1903
Formazione · after 1903
Rejected by the Beaux-Arts and “three empty and useless years”
After his service Léger tries to enter the École des Beaux-Arts, is rejected, and enrolls at the School of Decorative Arts instead. He nevertheless attends the Beaux-Arts as a non-enrolled student, studying with Gérôme and Ferrier, and also the Académie Julian; he later described these three years as “empty and useless”.
1904
Carriera · 1904–1907
A studio with André Mare; “My Mother's Garden”
In 1904–1907 Léger shares a studio with his fellow countryman André Mare, working for an architect and as a retoucher for a photographer. He begins to work seriously as a painter only at 25; from this period, marked by the influence of Impressionism, survives “My Mother's Garden” (1905), one of the few early paintings he did not later destroy.
1907
Evento
The 1907 Cézanne exhibition and a turn to geometry
Cézanne's posthumous exhibition of 1907 (at the Salon d'Automne by some accounts, at the Salon des Indépendants by others) strongly influences Léger: a new emphasis on drawing and geometry appears in his work.
1908
Residenza · 1908–1909
La Ruche and Montparnasse: Archipenko, Lipchitz, Chagall, Rousseau
In 1908 Léger settles in La Ruche (other accounts have him moving to Montparnasse in 1909) and meets Alexander Archipenko, Laurens and Jacques Lipchitz, later Chaïm Soutine, Marc Chagall and Robert Delaunay and their guests (Max Jacob, Apollinaire, Raynal, Blaise Cendrars); some become his friends. In 1909 he also meets Henri Rousseau, “le Douanier”, whose frontal compositions, firm contours and smoothly blended colours his own work of the 1920s frequently recalls.
- Bridge1908?
- Table and Fruit1909

Kneeling Nudec. 1907–08

1910
Mostra
The 1910 Salon d'Automne: “Nudes in the Forest”
In 1910 Léger exhibits at the Salon d'Automne in the same room (salle VIII) as Jean Metzinger and Henri Le Fauconnier. The major painting of these years is “Nudes in the Forest” (1909–1910), in which he develops a personal form of Cubism that critics called “Tubism” for its emphasis on cylindrical forms.
Carriera
Kahnweiler buys his paintings
In 1910 the dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, a supporter of Picasso and Georges Braque, buys several of Léger's paintings, which allows the artist to move a year later to the rue de l'Ancienne Comédie.
1911
Mostra
The “Cubists' room” at the Salon des Indépendants
In 1911 the hanging committee of the Salon des Indépendants places the painters identified as Cubists together — Metzinger, Gleizes, Le Fauconnier, Delaunay and Léger; in room 41, nicknamed the “Cubists' room”, Léger shows “Nudes in the Forest”. It is the first time Cubism is revealed to the general public as an organized group; with the same group Léger also exhibits in Brussels.
1912

1920
Incontro
Friendship with Le Corbusier, “The Mechanic” and “The Great Lunch”
In 1920, at the founding of the journal “L'Esprit nouveau”, Léger befriends Le Corbusier, who remains a lifelong friend. In the same year he paints the canvases “The Mechanic” and “The Great Lunch”, and from this year he exhibits at the Indépendants for many years.
1921
Incontro
Meeting van Doesburg and Mondrian
In 1921 Léger meets van Doesburg and Mondrian.
Carriera
Gance's “La Roue” and Malraux's “Lunes en papier”
In 1921, together with Blaise Cendrars, Léger works on Abel Gance's film “La Roue” and illustrates André Malraux's book “Lunes en papier”. He is so drawn to cinema that he considers for a time giving up painting for filmmaking.
1922
Carriera · 1922–1924
Stage and screen: the Swedish Ballet and “L'Inhumaine”
In 1922 Léger designs sets, costumes and the curtain for “Skating Rink” (music by Milhaud) for Rolf de Maré's Swedish Ballet, and in 1923 for the ballet “La Création du monde” (Milhaud, libretto by Cendrars). In 1923–24 he designs the laboratory set for Marcel L'Herbier's film “L'Inhumaine”.

1930
Incontro
Meeting Calder
In 1930 Léger meets Calder. In the same year his work is shown at the Leicester Galleries in London and at Paul Rosenberg's gallery in Paris, and he paints “The Mona Lisa with Keys” (now in the Léger Museum in Biot).
1931
Viaggio · September – December 1931 · New York City
First trip to the United States: New York and Chicago
Léger spends the summer of 1931 in Austria with his friends the Murphys and from September to December makes his first trip to the United States, to New York and Chicago. His work is shown at the galleries of John Becker and Durand-Ruel.
1933
Mostra
An exhibition in Zurich and a trip to Greece with Le Corbusier
In 1933 a large exhibition of Léger's work is held at the Kunsthaus in Zurich, which he attends in person. In the same year he travels with Le Corbusier to Greece for the international congress of modern architecture, and on the ship home he gives a lecture, “Architecture and Life”.

1940
Residenza · 1940–1945
The war years in exile in the United States
In 1940–1945 Léger lives in exile in the United States. He teaches at Yale University, where Focillon, Milhaud and Maurois also teach, gives “Composition with Two Parrots” to the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and in the summer gives a course of lectures at Mills College (Oakland, California), where he organizes an exhibition of his paintings.

1950
Opera
“The Builders”
In 1950 Léger completes the painting “The Builders” (other accounts date it to 1951; it is now in the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow).
Famiglia
The death of his wife Jeanne
In 1950 Léger's first wife, Jeanne-Augustine Lohy, whom he had married in 1919, dies.
1951
Mostra
The first polychrome sculptures
In 1951 Léger exhibits his first polychrome sculptures at the Galerie Leiris and a large composition at the Triennale in Milan.
Opera · September 1951
Seventeen stained-glass windows for the church at Audincourt
In September 1951 Léger makes 17 stained-glass windows and a tapestry for the church at Audincourt. During an attack of sciatica he stays at Chevreuse.

Cronaca

Posthumously