After a design by Fernand Leger

Private collection, Paris
Private collection, United States

Yvonne Brunhammer, Fernand Léger: Monumental Art, Italy, 2005, illustrated p. 180

Very good condition. Work has been recently cleaned. Some minor rusting in the steel frame. Otherwise, fine.
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.

Exuding the influence of the Neo-classicist painter Jacques-Louis David, Léger created Les Baigneuses sur fond orange following his grand homage to the painter he so admired, Les Loisirs, Hommage à Louis David.  According to Léger, "I wanted to proclaim a return to simplicity by way of an immediate art without any subtlety, comprehensible to all. I love David because he is so anti-Impressionist...I love the dryness in his work and also that of Ingres.  That was my way and it touched me instantly" quoted in (Dora Vallier, Kunst und Zeugnis, Zurich, 1961, p. 62). The direct gaze of the subjects, the grand scale, even the posture of the reclining woman in the foreground all seem borrowed directly from David.

Leger's interest in architectural works stems from his involvement in the 1937 mural Les transports des forces at the Palais de la Découverte for the Exposition Internationale in Paris as well as a mural for the 1939 New York Word's fair (since destroyed). However, it was his introduction to Roland Brice which opened his eyes to ceramics and eventually mosaics. Léger was able to further realize his interest in architectural adornment when he was commissioned to create a mosaic for the façade of the church of L'Église Notre-Dame-de-toute-Grâce at Assy in 1946, followed by the 1950 mosaic commemorating those soldiers who fought in the Battle of the Bulge in Bastogne, Belgium. Other commissions for mosaics as well as stained-glass windows were in production at the time of Léger's sudden death in 1955.

According to Nicholas Serota, "It is a paradox that for all his ambition to create an art that would address a broad public, Léger had remarkably few opportunities to work in this area, other than in temporary manifestations like the great exhibitions, or as in the final decade of his life, in his mosaics and stained-glass projects for the church" (Fernand Léger: The Later Years (exhibition catalogue), Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, 1987, p. 10).

In 1960, Nadia Léger established a museum dedicated to her late husband's life and work.  In the spirit of Léger's collaborative and large-scale works, George Bauquier, the museum's director and the artist's long-time friend, commissioned artisans to realize a select group of Léger's paintings in a variety of media.  The present lot, Les Baigneuses sur fond orange, was created as a unique mosaic and is based on the 1953 painting titled Composition aux quatre personnages: baigneurs en gris (fig 1).

Fig. 1 Fernand Léger, Composition aux quatre personnages: baigneurs en gris, 1953, oil on canvas, Private Collection