Fernand Léger
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painter, sculptor, and filmmaker.
Legacy
Léger wrote in 1945 that "the object in modern painting must become the main character and overthrow the subject (see plotlessness, objectification and non-narrativity). If, in turn, the human form becomes an object, it can considerably liberate possibilities for the modern artist." As he explained in a 1949 essay, by allowing the object to replace the subject, "we were able to consider the human figure as a plastic value, not as a sentimental value. That is why the human figure has remained willfully inexpressive throughout the evolution of my work". As the first painter to take as his idiom the imagery of the machine age, and to make the objects of consumer society the subjects of his paintings, Léger has been called a progenitor of Pop Art.
He was active as a teacher for many years. Among his pupils were Robert Colescott, Hananiah Harari, Asger Jorn, Beverly Pepper, George L. K. Morris, and Charlotte Gilbertson.
In 1952, a pair of Léger murals was installed in the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations headquarters in New York, New York.
In 1960, the Musée Fernand Léger was opened in Biot, Alpes-Maritimes,France.
In November of 2003, his painting, La femme en rouge et vert sold for 22,407,500 United States dollars. His sculptures have been selling in excess of 8 million dollars.
