3 OF 4 
Fernand Léger
3 of 4 portraits of Fernand Léger
© National Portrait Gallery, London
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Fernand Léger
by Ida Kar
quarter-plate film negative, 1954
Purchased, 1999
Photographs Collection
NPG x133285
Artistback to top
- Ida Kar (1908-1974), Photographer. Artist or producer associated with 1567 portraits, Sitter in 137 portraits.
This portraitback to top
The year this photograph was taken, Léger had completed one of his final works, The Great Parade. Bill Hopkins wrote: 'Standing beside one of his latest still lifes, Léger's virtuosity has caused as many controversies in painting as Stravinsky in music. Looking at him, he is the Norman farmer epitomised. Not what one regards a revolutionary at all.'
Linked publicationsback to top
- Freestone, Clare (appreciation) Wright, Karen (appreciation), Ida Kar Bohemian Photographer, 2011 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 10 March to 19 June 2011), p. 70 Read entry
Léger was born into a peasant family in Argentan, France. He studied in Paris at the School of Decorative Arts and at the Académie Julian. A retrospective of Cezanne's work at the Paris Salon d'Automne in 1907, and the recent experiments of cubism, influenced the development of Léger's own style. In 1908 he rented a studio at the artists' colony La Ruche (The Beehive), and the following year developed a semi-abstract cubist idiom, breaking down forms into tubular shapes. Following his service in the First World War, his work demonstrated a fascination with man and machine, depicting geometric and mechanised figures. In the 1920s, influenced by the formalist movement purism, Léger used muted colours and bold, black outlines in his work. He also collaborated on the experimental film The Mechanical Balle (1924), designed sets and costumes for ballet productions and worked on large decorative commissions. Bill Hopkins wrote of this portrait: 'Standing beside one of his latest still lifes, Léger’s virtuosity has caused as many controversies in painting as Stravinsky in music. Looking at him, he is the Norman farm epitomised. Not what one regards a revolutionary at all.' That same year Leger completed one of his final works, The Great Parade, which depicts the leisure activities of the working.
Events of 1954back to top
Current affairs
Roger Bannister runs the four-minute mile. Bannister was the first man to achieve the 'miracle mile', a feat that was thought by some to be impossible, beating his rival, the Australian John Landy, to the record. Bannister went on to a career as a distinguished neurologist.Food rationing ends in Britain.
Art and science
J.R.R. Tolkien publishes the first two parts of the Lord of the Rings trilogy: The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. Tolkien was an Oxford professor of Anglo-Saxon language and literature and drew on his scholarly interests in history, language and mythology to create the fictional land of Middle Earth where the books are set.Williams Golding publishes, Lord of the Flies.
International
The South East Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO) is established in Bangkok. This international defence organisation was established as part of the 'containment' policy of limiting the influence of communism. SEATO was, however, found to be ineffective as the member organisations failed to agree on combined action; it was disbanded in 1977.Comments back to top
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