Object Details
Artist
Fernand Léger
Date
1950 – 51
Medium
Pochoir on wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 17 1/2 x 13 1/4 inches (44.5 x 33.7 cm)
Sheet: 20 3/8 x 14 7/8 inches (51.8 x 37.8 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Dr. Emmanuel Klein, Class of 1924
Object
Number
62.0021
One of the key figures of cubism, Léger uses fragmented forms to celebrate the relationship between(…)
One of the key figures of cubism, Léger uses fragmented forms to celebrate the relationship between human and machine in the industrial age. In this pochoir, the artist depicts a group portrait in front of a solid red background. The figures are hardly differentiated from one another, hair and size depicting only minor differences. Léger then turns portraiture on its head, choosing to subsume individual identities of figures in favor of a group identity. His work can be seen as a visual depiction of machine-age thought, which focused on creating a utopia through mechanical repeatability and a de-emphasis on human individuality for the sake of objective progress. This philosophical basis eventually led to the rise of fascism. (“Imprint/ In Print,” curated by Nancy E. Green with assistance from Christian Waibel ’17 and presented at the Johnson Museum August 8 – December 20, 2015)