Card games were one of the few ways that soldiers could distract themselves from the monotony and misery of their daily lives during World War I. Léger had dug trenches on the frontline, and a sense of his claustrophobic cramped quarters is reflected in this drawing of a tubular machine-man, whose left arm is bent as if holding cards or at least shielding them from view. On December 5, 1917, Léger sold this drawing, along with additional studies and the final oil painting The Card Game (1917; Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo) to his new dealer Léonce Rosenberg. It was Léger’s first major sale since the war had begun.
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Open Access
As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.
API
Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.
Inscription: Signed and titled (lower right, in ink): dessin pour 'La partie de carte' / Fragment. / FLeger
the artist, Paris (1917; sold on December 5, 1917 as "Nature morte" for Fr 50, to Rosenberg); [Galerie L’Effort Moderne (Léonce Rosenberg), Paris, 1917–37; possibly inv. no. 5094, 5095, or 5096; sold in December 1937 for £4, to Cooper]; Douglas Cooper, London (1937–d. 1984; estate no. DC 84/85; his bequest to McCarty Cooper); his partner and adopted son, William McCarty Cooper, London (1984–86; sold in November 1986 to Lauder); Leonard A. Lauder, New York (1986–13) transferred on April 8, 2013 to the Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Trust, New York); The Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Trust (2013–16; gift to MMA)
Mayor Gallery. "Fernand Leger, Period 1912–1916," June 1938, no. 21 as 1916.
London. Tate Gallery. "Fernand Léger: An Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings, Lithographs and Book Illustrations," February 17–March 19, 1950, no. 52.
Leeds. City Art Gallery. "Fernand Léger: An Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings, Lithographs and Book Illustrations," April 1950, no. 44.
Kunstmuseum Basel. "Douglas Cooper und die Meister des Kubismus," November 22, 1987–January 17, 1988, no. 33.
London. Tate Gallery. "Douglas Cooper and the Masters of Cubism," February 3–April 4, 1988, no. 33.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Picasso, Braque, Léger, Gris: Drawings from the Douglas Cooper Collection," June 16–July 31, 1988, no catalogue.
Houston. Museum of Fine Arts. "Picasso, Braque, Gris, Léger: Douglas Cooper Collecting Cubism," October 14–December 30, 1990, no. 32.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Picasso, Braque, Gris, Léger: Douglas Cooper Collecting Cubism," January 31–April 21, 1991, no. 32.
Boston. Museum of Fine Arts. "Facets of Cubism," December 7, 2005–April 16, 2006, not in brochure.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Cubism: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection," October 20, 2014–February 16, 2015, no. 39.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "World War I and the Visual Arts," July 31, 2017–January 7, 2018 (MMA Bulletin, Fall 2017, fig. 55).
Douglas Cooper. Fernand Léger et le nouvel espace. Geneva, 1949, pp. 52, 190, ill. p. 66, as 1916.
Fernand Léger: An Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings, Lithographs and Book Illustrations. Exh. cat., Tate Gallery. London, 1950, unpaginated, no. 52.
Bradley J. Nickels. "Fernand Léger: Paintings and Drawings, 1905 to 1930." PhD diss., Indiana University, 1966, p. 167, fig. VI-29, p. 185.
Christopher Green. Léger and the Avant-Garde. New Haven, 1976, pp. 133–34, pl. 83, as "Soldat assis".
Christopher Green inFernand Léger, 1881–1955. Exh. cat., Staatliche Kunsthalle Berlin. Berlin, 1980, ill. p. 132, as "Soldat assis".
Dorothy M. Kosinski. Douglas Cooper and the Masters of Cubism. Exh. cat., Kunstmuseum Basel. Basel, 1987, pp. 112, 115, 131 n. 120, p. 207, no. 33, ill. p. 114.
Dorothy M. Kosinski. Picasso, Braque, Gris, Léger: Douglas Cooper Collecting Cubism. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts. Houston, 1990, pp. 14, 52 n. 56, p. 61, no. 32.
Christian Derouet, ed. Correspondances Fernand Léger–Léonce Rosenberg, 1917–1937. Paris, 1996, p. 22, letter 4, p. 259, possibly inv. no. 5094, 5095, or 5096.
"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.
Rebecca Rabinow inCubism: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection. Ed. Emily Braun and Rebecca Rabinow. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2014, pp. 175–79, no. 39, ill. p. 178 (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. 272, figs. 39 (in Ref. Cooper 1949), 77 (installation photo, Exh. Houston 1990).
Jennifer Farrell. "World War I and the Visual Arts." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 75 (Fall 2017), p. 38, fig. 55 (color).
Managing Editor Michael Cirigliano takes a tour of World War I and the Visual Arts with Associate Curator Jennifer Farrell to discuss the wide range of artists and artistic approaches represented in the exhibition.
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
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.
