FERNAND LEGER - Matthew Affron

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Résumé :
Between 1912 and 1914, Fernand Lger executed a large cycle of works known as the Contrasts of Forms. The series embraces the genres of landscape, still life, and figure, but at its core are numerous arresting compositions that sweep aside observation to focus on formal principles. The common denominator is a complex vocabulary of mingled cones, cylinders, cubes, and planes, vigorously outlined and scrubbed with color (in the paintings) or with black ink and white gouache (in the works on paper). The Contrasts of Forms are essential to two great chapters in the history of modern art in the years before the First World War: first, the development of cubism, and second, the emergence of abstract art.Curated by Lger scholar Matthew Affron and organized by the University of Virginia Art Museum, this tightly focused exhibition unites two landmark paintings with eleven works on paper from major museums and private collections.