Fernand Léger

Thomas Bouchard, New York (a gift from the artist)
Private Collection, United States (by descent from the above; sale: Sotheby's, 16th November 1989, lot 446)
Private Collection, United States
Sale: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 17th June 1990, lot 70
Sale: Christie's, New York, 13th May 1998, lot 313
Sale: Castellana Subastas, Madrid, 9th March 1999, lot 142
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Christian Zervos, Fernand Léger, Œuvres de 1905 à 1952, Paris, 1952, n.n., illustrated p. 79 (titled as Study for stained glass window)
Georges Bauquier, Fernand Léger, Catalogue raisonné, 1944-1948, Paris, 1993, no. 1192, illustrated in colour p. 75

The board is stable. UV examination reveals some retouching to all four corners of the board, the largest of which is an area to the upper left corner, approximately 7cm. long and relating to a crease across the corner. There is some minor frame rubbing to the upper edge. This work is in overall good condition.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Boldly modelled with an expressive palette, Composition is one of Fernand Léger’s definitive paintings of the mid-1940s and exemplifies the rarified aesthetic of his postwar abstraction. During his stay in the United States during the Second World War, Léger was drawn to nature encountered on his cross-country road trip through the American West. Arthur Neumeyer, the director of the Mills College Art Gallery in Oakland California invited Léger to teach a summer semester. Excited by the opportunity, Léger departed New York in June 1941 for San Francisco. The aesthetic diversity of the landscape, vast deserts and open horizons observed on this expedition became an important point of reference for his work. Influences of the American pastoral landscape seen on this trip resonate in the present composition. Léger believed that truth in painting is colour at its fullest including red, black and yellow. This philosophy informed the colour palette for the present work. The elements themselves are rendered in rich primary coloured fields of reds, yellows and blues, made all the more powerful by their contrast with the stark white background.

Composition was painted by Léger for the acclaimed filmmaker and photographer Thomas Bouchard. Mr Bouchard and his daughter Diane enjoyed friendships with some of the greatest artists of the 20th century and filmed them at work. Visual artists, including Léger were the subject of their work, and the films that they made of these artists reveal the movement, bodily expressiveness and instinctual creativity of these painters at work in America after the war. In his film The New Realism of Fernand Léger, Bouchard shows Léger leisurely gathering materials and ideas for his canvases as he wanders in the streets of New York and the countryside of New Hampshire. He is then shown at work, revealing his method of abstraction as he draws and paints his impressions of the motifs he has found, many which are similar to those in the present work.