DescriptionAs a young man in France, Fernand Léger was apprenticed to an architect (1897–99), then worked as an architectural draftsman (1900–02) and a photographic retoucher (1903–04). He studied art at the École des Arts Décoratifs and the Académie Julian in Paris. Along with Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and Juan Gris, Léger ranks among the foremost Cubist painters of the teens. Even after the height of Cubism, his paintings continued to utilize pure color and to employ forms that had been simplified into the geometric components of the cone, cube, and sphere. After World War I, when Léger became friends with Le Corbusier and Amédée Ozenfant, who were leaders of the Purist movement in Paris (ca. 1918–ca. 1925), his work exemplified the "machine aesthetic."

"Woman with a Cat" belongs to a group of monumental female figures — some reading, others drinking cups of tea — that are emblematic of the artist's new grand figure style from his "mechanica" period of 1918–23. These works might be seen as preparatory for his large masterpiece "Three Women (Le Grand Déjeuner)" of 1921 (Museum of Modern Art, New York) and its two smaller variants. Léger also painted variations of the single-figure composition and made a slightly smaller, nearly identical version of "Woman with a Cat" (Kunsthalle, Hamburg).

Motionless, hierarchic, and frontal, this colossal creature seems made of some undefinable rubberized substance. The powerful large nude woman, painted in grisaille, is composed of spheres, cones, and tubes. She leans against billowing pillows — one off-white, the other a black-and-yellow diamond pattern. A yellow blanket protects her lap, upon which rests an open book and a cat. Her mane of black hair covers half of her white spherical face. The stark simplicity of the composition is matched by the reduced palette of red, yellow, black, and white.

Signatures, Inscriptions, and MarkingsSignature: [lower right]: F. LÉGER. 21

ProvenanceGottlieb Friedrich Reber, Lugano, Switzerland; M. Knoedler & Co., New York, (1958); Mr. and Mrs. Samuel A. Marx, Chicago (1958-1964); Mrs. Florene M. Schoenborn (formerly Mrs. Samuel A. Marx), New York, (1964-1994)

Selected Exhibition HistoryBerne: Kunsthalle, Fernand Léger, 1952, no. 24.

Lyon-Charbonnières: Palais Saint-Pierre, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Fernand Léger, 1955, no. 21.

Zurich; Kunsthaus, Fernand Léger, 1957.

New York: Museum of Modern Art, The School of Paris: Paintings from the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection, 1965, p. 39, illustr.

New York: Acquavella Galleries, Inc., Oct. 23-Dec. 12, 1987. Fernand Léger, by Jack Flam. Pg.45, cat. no. 20.

Zurich, Switzerland: Kunsthaus Zurich, September 25, 1998 - January 6, 1999. Saint Louis, Missouri: The Saint Louis Art Museum, February 6, 1999 - May 9, 1999. Max Beckmann and Paris. Pg. 74, cat. no. 74, illus. in color, checklist pg. 233.

New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Florene M. Schoenborn Bequest: 12 Artists of the School of Paris, February 11 - August 31 1997, brochure no. 7, ill. in color.

New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Painters in Paris 1895-1950, March 8 - December 31, 2000, p. 90, ill. in color.

Kyoto,Japan: Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, September 14-November 24, 2002; Tokyo: The Bunkamura Museum of Art, December 7, 2000 - March 9, 2003, Picasso and the School of Paris, Paintings from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. plate 37, p. 94, illus. in color.

Selected BibliographyBauquier, Georges. Fernand Léger Catalogue raisonné 1920-1924. Adrien Maeght Éditeur, 1992, no. 306, p. 182-83, ill.

Flam, Jack. Fernand Léger, New York, 1987, p.45, cat. no. 20.

Lieberman, William S. Painters in Paris 1895-1950. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000, p. 90, ill. in color.