Fernand Léger

Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris
Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York
Perls Gallery, New York
Paul Kantor Gallery, Los Angeles
Private Collection, United States
Landau Fine Art, Montreal
Acquired from the above on May 24, 2000

London, Waddington Galleries, Twentieth Century Works, 1988, no. 8, illustrated in the catalogue

Georges Bauquier, Irus Hansma & Claude Lefebvre du Preÿ, Fernand Léger, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint 1952-1953, Paris, 2013, no. 1457, illustrated p. 14

This work is in very good condition. Canvas is unlined. Colors are strong. Some pigment shrinkage in the bottom two inches of the black pigment of the figure's hair. Under UV light one tiny dot of inpainting is visible near the center of the upper edge. The darkest dot of black pigment in the figure's hair also fluoresces as does a one-centimeter long hairline of varnish which extends downward from the black line above the figuer's right shoulder into the yellow pigment.
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.

Léger once stated that "truth in painting is color at its fullest; red, black, yellow, since pure tones in paintings are reality." Indeed, this philosophy governed his construction of the present work, in which swathes of primary colors overlap the figure. Katharine Kuh, legendary curator at the Art Institute Chicago, further writes of this development: “Now color determines the composition and flashes over boundary lines and forms with a disregard reminiscent of neon lights going on and off, casting arbitrary and garish reflection on passing people and surroundings... Léger’s chief preoccupation, together with many of his contemporaries like Picasso, Matisse and Braque, is to use color freely in order to export and invent new kinds of space” (Katharine Kuh, Léger, Urbana, 1953, p. 62).