This painting depicts an anonymous worker standing with his back to the viewer, presumably typesetting the red-and-white letters in front of him. The colorful segmented oval at center is the man’s hat. His ear is represented by a curved, gray, tubelike shape, and his torso is depicted in red at lower center. The dark perimeter of the oversized canvas sets off the dazzling brilliance of the center scene, which in its scale and graphic power emulates the posters and billboards that Léger saw all around him in postwar Paris. Léger made many changes to the composition, likely working on it into 1919, despite the dating on the lower right.
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Inscription: Signed and dated (lower right, in white paint): F. LÉGER / 17–18; signed and dated (verso, upper left, in black paint): F. LÉGER / 17–18; titled (upper left): LE TYPOGRAPHE [subsequently painted over with white paint and re-titled]: COMPOSITION
the artist, Paris (until at least 1937; probably sold to Callery); Mary (Meric) Callery, Boulogne sur Seine (by 1938–at least 1947); Ellen and Wallace K. Harrison, New York (by 1953–74; sold in 1974 to Diamond); Harold Diamond, New York (1974– d. 1982); his widow, Hester Diamond, New York (1982–89; sold in 1989 through Stephen Mazoh & Co., New York, to Koerfer); Dr. Jacques C. Koerfer, Ascona (1989–d. 1990); his heirs, Switzerland (1990–98; their sale, Christie’s, New York, November 19, 1998, no. 326, sold to Lauder); Leonard A. Lauder, New York (from 1998)
Paris. Musée du Jeu de Paume. "Origines et développement de l'art international indépendant," July 30–October 31, 1937, no. 76 (as "Le Typographe," 1917, lent by the artist).
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Art in Our Time: An Exhibition to Celebrate the Tenth Anniversary of the Museum of Modern Art and the Opening of Its New Building," May 10–September 30, 1939, no. 171.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "The Callery Collection: Picasso–Léger," January–February 1945.
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Large-Scale Modern Paintings," April 1–May 4, 1947, no catalogue (checklist no. 5; as "Composition," lent by Mrs. Meric Callery).
Art Institute of Chicago. "Léger: A Survey of His Art," April 2–May 17, 1953, no. 14.
San Francisco Museum of Art. "Léger: A Survey of His Art," June 15–August 23, 1953, no. 14.
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Léger: A Survey of His Art," October 6, 1953–January 3, 1954, no. 14.
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Paintings from Private Collections: A 25th Anniversary Exhibition," May 31–September 5, 1955, no. 74 (as "Composition," lent by a private collection, New York).
New York. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. "The Guggenheim Museum and the Arts of This Century," June 22–September 7, 1992.
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "Fernand Léger," February 15–May 12, 1998, extended to June 2, 1998, unnumbered cat. (p. 187).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Cubism: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection," October 20, 2014–February 16, 2015, no. 42.
Origines et développement de l’art international indépendant. Exh. cat., Musée du Jeu de Paume. Paris, 1937, unpaginated, no. 76.
Art in our Time. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1939, unpaginated, no. 171, ill.
"The Callery Collection: Picasso–Léger." Philadelphia Museum Bulletin 40, no. 204 (January 1945), p. 39, ill. p. 46.
Léon Degand. "F. Léger." Art d’Aujourd’hui no. 3 (October 1949), unpaginated, ill. (probably on display in the residence of Mary [Meric] Callery, New York, ca. 1939).
Katharine Kuh. Léger. Urbana, 1953, pp. 24, ill. p. 25.
Katharine Kuh. Léger. Exh. cat., Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago, 1953, pp. 37, 85, no. 14, ill. p. 25.
Paintings from Private Collections. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1955, p. 13.
"Paintings from Private Collections." Bulletin of the Museum of Modern Art 22, no. 4 (Summer 1955), p. 32, no. 74, ill. p. 36.
Documenta. Kunst des XX. Jahrhunderts. Exh. cat., Museum Fridericianum, Kassel. Munich, 1955, sect. 4, ill. no. 3 (probably on display in the residence of Mary [Meric] Callery, New York, ca. 1939).
François Mathey, ed. Fernand Léger, 1881–1955. Exh. cat., Musée des Arts Décoratifs. Paris, 1956, p. 128, as first state, 1917–18.
Robert L. Delevoy. Léger: Biographical and Critical Study. Geneva, 1962, p. 71.
Christopher Green inLéger and Purist Paris. Exh. cat., Tate Gallery. London, 1970, p. 98, no. 7, ill. p. 54.
Fernand Léger. Exh. cat., Grand Palais. Paris, 1971, p. 10, under no. 42, as first state, 1917.
Erich Steingräber. "Berichte der Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen: Neuerwerbungen, Das Vermächtnis Theodor und Woty Werner." Münchner Jahrbuch der Bildenden Kunst 3, no. 23 (1972), p. 250.
Christopher Green. Léger and the Avant-Garde. New Haven, 1976, pp. ix, 151, 159, pl. 6, as 1919.
Fernand Léger, 1881–1955. Exh. cat., Staatliche Kunsthalle. Berlin, 1980, ill. p. 152.
Robert T. Buck inFernand Léger. Exh. cat., Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo. New York, 1982, pp. 31, 33, fig. 17.
Klaus Kertess. "Foreign Relations: Hester Diamond Blends Courtly Furniture and Classics of Revolutionary Art." House & Garden 158, no. 4 (April 1986), p. 197, ill. pp. 196, 198–99 (on display in the residence of Hester Diamond, New York), as 1917–18.
Christopher Green. Cubism and Its Enemies: Modern Movements and Reaction in French Art, 1916–1928. New Haven, 1987, p. 40, fig. 59.
Georges Bauquier assisté de Nelly Maillard. Fernand Léger: Catalogue raisonné. Vol. 1, 1903–1919. Paris, 1990, p. 262, no. 146, ill. p. 263, as 1918.
Carol Vogel. "Inside Art: Wishing and Hoping. Gifts, Loans, ‘Wish Lists’ and Permanence at the Guggenheim Museum." New York Times (July 24, 1992), p. C13, ill., as "The Printer," 1917–18.
Dorothy M. Kosinski, ed. Fernand Léger, 1911–1924: The Rhythm of Modern Life. Exh. cat., Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg. Munich, 1994, p. 24, fig. 4, as 1918.
Carolyn Lanchner. Fernand Léger. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1998, p. 186, ill. p. 187.
Jodi Hauptmann in Carolyn Lanchner. Fernand Léger. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1998, p. 81.
Beth Handler in Carolyn Lanchner. Fernand Léger. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1998, p. 175.
Andrew Butterfield. The Jacques Koerfer Collection. London, 1999, pp. 11–12, 60, 109, ill. p. 61 and unpaginated (timeline).
Andrew Butterfield. "Important Paintings from a European Estate." Christie's: Review of the Year 1998. Ed. Terence Rodrigues with Rebecca Jevons. London, 1999, pp. 12, 15, ill. (color), as 1917–18.
François-René Martin et al. Fernand Léger. Exh. cat., Musée des Beaux-Arts. Lyon, 2004, fig. 5, p. 13 (probably on display in the residence of Mary [Meric] Callery, New York, ca. 1939 [erroneously as in the artist’s studio, about 1950]).
Carolyn Lanchner inAbstract Expressionism and Other Modern Works: The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Gary Tinterow, Lisa Mintz Messinger, and Nan Rosenthal. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, p. 20, fig. 11.
Disques et sémaphores: Le Langage du signal chez Léger et ses contemporains. Exh. cat., Musée National Fernand Léger. Paris, 2010, p. 52, ill. (color), erroneously listed as in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Carol Vogel. "Billion-Dollar Cubist Gift to the Met." International Herald Tribune (April 11, 2013), p. 12, ill.
"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 1917–18.
Emily Braun and Rebecca Rabinow inCubism: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection. Ed. Emily Braun and Rebecca Rabinow. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2014, p. 233.
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. 202–8, 213, 318(4)n.10, p. 319(1)n.20, (2)nn.23, 24, 26, (4)n.46, no. 42, ill. p. 203 (color), fig. 89 (verso, detail of the inscription "Composition" painted over the earlier inscription "Le typographe").
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, pp. 273–74, fig. 42 (on display in the residence of Hester Diamond, New York, 1986).
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. 16, fig. 12 (on display in the residence of Leonard A. Lauder, New York, 2014).
Rebecca A. Rabinow in "Recent Acquisitions. A Selection: 2012–2014." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 72 (Fall 2014), p. 68, ill. (color).
Kevin Conley. "The Family Firm." Town and Country (May 2016), ill. (color) p. 168.
Max Hollein. Modern and Contemporary Art in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2019, ill. p. 39 (color).
Leonard A. Lauder discusses his appreciation of the Cubist works of art he has collected. Leonard A. Lauder answers the question: "Which is your favorite picture?"
The ninth-annual Women and the Critical Eye program featuring a conversation between Emily Braun and Rebecca Rabinow, who discuss Leonard Lauder's criteria for collecting, including the importance of the "aesthetic wow," rarity, state of conservation, and attention to a work's curriculum vitae.
The Met's engagement with art from 1890 to today includes the acquisition and exhibition of works in a range of media, spanning movements in modernism to contemporary practices from across the globe.
