Most of us are familiar with Fernand Léger’s signature form of Cubism, called “tubism.” But how many are aware of his deep love for all things cinema—set designs, posters, theory, direction, production. In 1924, Léger made his first movie, Ballet Mécanique, an avant-garde picture that saw objects and characters animated and altered. A year after its completion, he declared, “the cinema is thirty years old, it is young, modern, free and without tradition … Cinema personalizes the fragment, it frames it and it is a new realism whose consequences can be incalculable.” This show looks at Léger’s contributions to the moving pictures, and includes his credits for Abel Gance’s film La Roue and his work on L’Inhumaine, a 1924 film directed by Marcel L’Herbier. —E.C.

Kiki de Montparnasse in Fernand Léger and Dudley Murphy’s Ballet Mécanique, 1923–1924.
Fernand Léger and the Cinema
–
Musée National Fernand Léger / Biot / Art
Musée National Fernand Léger / Biot / Art
Photo: © Adagp, Paris/courtesy Light Cone, Bruce Posner
Visit
Musée National Fernand Léger
255 Chem. du Val de Pôme, 06410 Biot, France
Get Directions »
Start a New Search
Subscribers Only
Start your free trial to access the full Arts Intel Report
Subscribe to Air Mail to access every article
and search our entire Arts Intel Report.
Already a subscriber? Sign in here.