Léger repurposed Cubist planes as mechanical parts and arranged them across the surface in a juxtaposition of geometric solids and architectural motifs. His postwar figures, from longshoremen to heroic aviators to city dwellers, have steely limbs and a metallic sheen.
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Inscription: Signed and dated (lower center, in blue pencil): F. L / 20
Marking: watermark: VIDALON- LES[-]ANNONAY A LAVIS ANCNE MANUFRE
the artist, Paris (1920; sold on October 22, 1920, as "Figure" for Fr 70, to Rosenberg); [Galerie L’Effort Moderne (Léonce Rosenberg), Paris, from 1920; inv. no. 7110]; [Galerie Simon (Daniel Henry Kahnweiler), Paris]; [M. Knoedler & Co., Paris and New York, April 22, 1965–69; inv. no. WCA3478; sold in February 1969 for $11,000, to Avnet]; Lester F. Avnet, New York (1969–d. 1970); his widow, Joan Avnet, New York (1970–76; her sale, Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, March 18, 1976, no. 63, sold to Lauder); Leonard A. Lauder, New York (1976–2013; transferred on April 8, 2013 to the Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Trust); The Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Trust, New York (2013–16; gift to MMA)
New York Cultural Center. "A Selection of Drawings, Pastels and Watercolors from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Lester Francis Avnet," December 9, 1969–January 25, 1970, no. 74.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Cubism: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection," October 20, 2014–February 16, 2015, no. 44.
A Selection of Drawings, Pastels and Watercolors from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Lester Francis Avnet. Exh. cat., New York Cultural Center. New York, 1969, unpaginated, no. 74, ill.
Christian Derouet, ed. Correspondances Fernand Léger–Léonce Rosenberg, 1917–1937. Paris, 1996, pp. 76–77 n. 7, p. 268, inv. no. 7110.
"Objects Promised to the Museum during the Year 2012–2013." The Metropolitan Museum of Art, One Hundred Forty-third Annual Report of the Trustees for the Fiscal Year July 1, 2012, through June 30, 2013 (2013), p. 46, as "Study for 'The Airman,'" October 1920.
Christopher Green inCubism: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection. Ed. Emily Braun and Rebecca Rabinow. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2014, pp. 202, 207–8, 213, 319(3)n.35, no. 44, ill. p. 211 (color).
Anna Jozefacka and Luise Mahler inCubism: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection. Ed. Emily Braun and Rebecca Rabinow. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2014, p. 275.
Emily Braun and Leonard A. Lauder inCubism: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection. Ed. Emily Braun and Rebecca Rabinow. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2014, p. 8.
"The Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection: A Conversation with Emily Braun and Pepe Karmel." IFAR Journal 16, no. 3 (2015), p. 38, fig. 10B (color).
Vérane Tasseau. "Lauder, Leonard A." Dictionnaire du Cubisme. Ed. Brigitte Leal. Paris, 2018, p. 404.
Written on the verso (center right, in pencil): Galerie Simon / No 7110 / Léger / Oct 1920; (lower right, in pencil): 305 38 [underlined]; (upper left, in pencil): 31-39 7110 " [Galerie L’Effort Moderne dimensions and inv. no.]; (lower left, in pencil): EL 70.695 / WC A3478 [M. Knoedler & Co. inv. no.]
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