The Smoker

1912

First exhibition at Kahnweiler's gallery

In 1912 Léger's first exhibition takes place at Kahnweiler's gallery. In the same year he shows “The Smokers” at the Indépendants and “Woman in Blue” at the Salon d'Automne and takes part in the exhibitions of the Section d'Or group.

1912

The Section d'Or group at Puteaux

In 1912 Léger joins Le Fauconnier, Metzinger, Gleizes, Picabia and the Duchamp brothers (Jacques Villon, Raymond Duchamp-Villon and Marcel Duchamp) to form the Puteaux Group, also called the Section d'Or; he had met Jacques Villon, and through him the group, at Puteaux as early as 1911.

1913

The Indépendants, the Armory Show and the Berlin Autumn Salon

In 1913 Léger takes part in the exhibition of the Indépendants, in the Armory Show and in the first exhibition of the Salon d'Automne in Berlin. In May he gives a lecture at the Vassilieff Academy, “The Origins of Painting and Its Representational Value”, whose text is published in Paris, Berlin and Bergen; in May 1914 a second lecture follows there, “New Discoveries in Modern Painting”.

October 1913

A contract with Kahnweiler and the studio on rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs

In October 1913 Léger signs a contract with Kahnweiler to sell him his works. Soon afterwards he rents a studio at 86 rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs, which he keeps for the rest of his life.

1914–1916

Mobilized: two years at the front

On 2 August 1914, soon after the outbreak of the First World War, Léger is mobilized and sent to the sappers; for two years he is at the front near the Argonne and Verdun, drawing artillery pieces, airplanes and fellow soldiers in the trenches and billets. He paints “Soldier with a Pipe” (1916) while on furlough.

September 1916

Gassed at Verdun

In September 1916 at Verdun, where he is transporting the wounded, Léger is gassed — he almost dies after a German mustard-gas attack.