Fernand Léger

Galerie Louis Carré, Paris
Lucien Lefebvre-Foinet, Paris
Sale: Finarte, Rome, April 12, 1973, lot 53
Private Collection, Japan (and sold: Sotheby’s, New York, May 9, 2001, lot 522)
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Geneva, Galerie Motte & Paris, Galerie 22, F. Léger, 1974, no. 21, illustrated in color in the catalogue

Georges Bauquier, Fernand Léger, Catalogue raisonné de l’oeuvre peint, 1944-48, Paris, 2000, no. 1297, illustrated in color p. 216

The work is in excellent condition. The canvas is unlined. Inscribed on the reverse of the canvas "L'oeuvre est authentique de F Leger N Leger". There is some minor paint separation in the lower right of the red mask. There is some light surface dirt. Under UV light, there is some uneven varnish that fluoresces, but is original to the artist's process. 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.

Composition aux deux masques (Les Deux Jeannette) is a superb example of Fernand Léger’s bold utilization of color and manipulation of form, which had reached a peak of creative assurance by the time this work was painted in 1948. Dominated by two animated red and black masks, a collection of seemingly disconnected elements hovers against a vibrant yellow background. Through the juxtaposition of biomorphic shapes of the fruit and the geometric forms of the jug and books, the artist simultaneously recalls his Cubist roots and his masterful command of figurative painting to compose a work that unifies many various strands the avant-garde of early twentieth-century Paris. The centrality of the masks in this still-life composition and the flatness of perspective evokes Leger’s works from the height of his Cubist period in the late teens and early twenties (see fig. 1). The masks depicted here bear a formal affinity with those used in ceremonies and rituals by cultures in sub-Saharan Africa, many of which had been exhibited in Paris in the late 1900s and in turn, famously influenced the artistic trajectory of Cubist artists such as Picasso and Léger. At the height of the Parisian fascination with “primitive” art forms in the early 1920s, Léger collaborated with composer Darius Milhaud and writer Blaise Cendrars to produce Création du monde–a ballet centered around an origin myth of the world based on African folk mythology, which premiered at the Théâtre de Champs-Élysée in October 1923. Much like the present work, Léger’s set design for the show combines an illusion of perspective and a breakdown of form, with masks serving as the focus of the scene (see fig. 2).

Additionally, the primary colors which pervade the image—yellow, red and blue—were of particular significance to Léger throughout his career. According to the artist, these were the colors that expressed the reality of the medium of painting. Léger was interested in exploring the language of painting in its purest form, paring his vocabulary down to the most refined elements of color and form. Speaking at The Museum of Modern Art in the 1930s, he outlined the core precepts of his artistic practice: “It is possible to assert the following: that colour has a reality in itself, a life of its own; that geometric form has also a reality in itself, independent and plastic... There was never any question in art, in poetry, in music, of representing anything. It is a matter of making something beautiful, moving, or dramatic—this is by no means the same thing... Commonplace objects, objects turned out in a series, are often more beautiful in proportion than many things called beautiful and given a badge of honor... My objective is to try and establish the following: no more cataloguing of beauty into hierarchies—that is the most clumsy mistake possible. Beauty is everywhere, in the arrangement of saucepans on the white wall of your kitchen, perhaps more there than in your eighteenth-century salon or in official museums" (quoted in Picasso, Braque, Léger: Masterpieces from Swiss Collections (exhibition catalogue), The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 1975, pp. 65-69). This last sentence, which posits the intriguing idea that beauty is inherent within the most seemingly mundane of objects and without hierarchy, can arguably be applied with particular weight to the present work.

Rendered in a riotous fusion of color, Composition aux deux masques (Les Deux Jeannette) effectively transcends the earth-bound nature of a traditional still life. Léger creates a striking impression of vitality in a composition that is both beautiful in its simplicity and visionary in its treatment of color and form.