Object number1973.12.5

Profils noir et blanc

Date1928

Artist Fernand Léger (French, 1881 - 1955)

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsUnframed: 17 11/16 x 25 3/16 in. (45 x 64 cm)
Framed: 27 9/16 x 35 1/16 x 3 1/8 in. (70 x 89 x 8 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm Pitt (Juliet Thompson, class of 1922)

On View

On view

Period20th c

Classification(s)

Painting

Terms

SignedSigned and dated (LL): F. Leger '28

MarkingsOn verso of frame, top: 1. In white chalk: 3 21-21; On verso of stretcher: 1. Paper label reading: Saidenberg Gallery/ 10 East 77th St./ New York, 21 NY; 2. Paper label reading: Galerie Louis Carré/ 10 Avenue de Messine/ Paris 8e. p. 45 Fernand Leger/ Profils noir et/ blanc 1928/ 18”1/8 x 25”5/8 [on the second label, there is a cross marked in pencil in the bottom right quadrant]; 3. Paper label reading: [in a circle inscribed in the rectagle of the label--see sketch] R. LÉRONDELLE/ Emballage d’Objets d’Art/ 76, Rue Blanche, PARIS. The number 44 is marked in pen in both the top left and bottom right corners of the label; 4. In white chalk: SAIDENBERG; 5. In white chalk: S. P. 59; 6. In white wash: 15 M 45; 7. In black chalk: Box 3 / # 3481-9.

CopyrightARS/ADAGP, Paris

Exhibition HistoryJapan, Shimane Art Museum, "Paris--New York; Modern Paintings in 19th and 20th Century Master Works from the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York," March 7 - May 11, 2008. Cat. no. 18, p 63.

Japan, Ishibashi Museum of Art, "Paris--New York; Modern Paintings in 19th and 20th Century Master Works from the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York," May 17 - July 20, 2008. Cat. no. , p .

Japan, Yamagata Museum of Art, "Paris--New York; Modern Paintings in 19th and 20th Century Master Works from the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York," July 30 - August 31, 2008. Cat. no. , p. .

Japan. Fuchu Art Museum, "Paris--New York; Modern Paintings in 19th and 20th Century Master Works from the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York," September 6 - November 3, 2008. Cat. no. , p. .

Japan, Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum, "Paris--New York; Modern Paintings in 19th and 20th Century Master Works from the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York," November 14 - December 14, 2008. Cat. , p. .

South Hadley, MA, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum , “Highlights from the Vassar College Art Gallery Collection,” August 2 to November 19, 1990.

Label TextTraditionally Léger has been regarded as one of the four great Cubists -- along with Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and Juan Gris. However, there are moments in his career that defy or escape this categorization. During the 1920s Léger became associated with the French Purist movement launched by the painter Amédée Ozenfant and the painter-architect Le Corbusier. Purism sought to eliminate the decorative aspects of Cubism and advocated a return to clear, ordered forms that were expressive of the modern machine age. It pushed Léger to use flatter colors and bold, black outlines in his work. Léger's paintings from 1927-1928 thus show a return to an isolation of the object placed freely in an otherworldly space defined by clean colors with pure outlines. Profils noir et blanc, exemplary of this style, features a head in shadow placed behind its counterpart in white. Undulating contours, and rectilinear, industrial forms punctuate the work and serve as framing devices for individual shapes.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email loebcollections@vassar.edu