- 172
Fernand Léger
Estimate
150,000 - 250,000 USD
bidding is closed
Description
- Fernand Léger
- Le Combattant (Étude pour "Fortune")
- Signed with the initials FL and dated NY-39 (lower right)
- Watercolor, gouache, pen and brush and ink on paper laid down on card
- 12 3/4 by 10 in.; 32.3 by 25.4 cm
Provenance
Estate of the artist
Sale: Palais Galliéra, Paris, November 28, 1971, lot 42
Private Collection, Paris (acquired at the above sale and sold: Sotheby's, London, June 24, 2003, lot 249)
Peter Findlay Gallery, New York (acquired at the above sale)
Acquired from the above
Sale: Palais Galliéra, Paris, November 28, 1971, lot 42
Private Collection, Paris (acquired at the above sale and sold: Sotheby's, London, June 24, 2003, lot 249)
Peter Findlay Gallery, New York (acquired at the above sale)
Acquired from the above
Condition
Executed on cream wove paper which has been laid down on card. There is a mat stain around the perimeter of the sheet. There is a continuous incision around the entire perimeter of the composition, within the blue background, which appears to date to the time of execution and appears to be intrinsic to the work. There is some uniform time fading to the sheet. There is very faint minor craquelure to the white pigment at the center of the composition and to the black pigment at the figure's neck. The pigments are fresh and strong. There is very minor surface dirt. The work is in overall very 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.
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.
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.
Catalogue Note
Launched in the early months of the Great Depression in 1930, Fortune magazine numbers among the most influential and prestigious of all American business publications. From the outset it was characterized by a strong visual sense. Henry Luce, Fortune's founder, declared his intention of producing a magazine "as beautiful as exists in the US. If possible, the undisputed most beautiful" (quoted in Daniel Okrent, ed., Fortune: The Art of Covering Business, New York, 1999, p. 12).
Fortune covers were created the greatest artists and graphic designers available, deployed an eye-catching mechanical iconography to strike the reader as forcefully as the articles inside. Given the established visual aesthetics of the publication no choice was more appropriate for a design commission than the ultimate progenitor of the machine aesthetic of the 1910s, Fernard Léger. The present work is a fascinating early project that aligns industry with high culture but ultimately the artist did not continue with the project and it was abandoned before it was finalized. Léger eventually would go on to design the cover of Fortune in December 1941 (see fig. 2).