The New York Times Book Review, Zoe H. Rice
The reproductions in Fernand Léger show that his art went beyond Cubist shapes, primary colors and machine imagery; his merging of Cubist stasis with undulating volume can only be called masterly.

Book Description
Fernand Léger is the only major modern artist to choose modernity itself as his subject. From his early series Contrastes de formes of 1913-14--the first fully abstract works to emerge from Cubism--through his paintings of construction workers from the late 1940s and early 1950s, his enduring subject was the pulse and dynamism of everyday life. Léger saw the 20th century environment as a "state of contrasts," a condition that he translated into art through forceful juxtaposition of shape, color, and line. His attempt to reconcile the formal concerns of artmaking with issues of social responsibility continues to be relevant to the art world of today. Accompanying texts recount Léger's experience of and interest in America and America's interest in him; explore refractions of Léger's interests in the work of more recent artists; and discuss Léger's ambition to make an art reflecting the "new visual state" of modern life. An illustrated chronology tells the story of the artist's life, focusing on his time in America, the plate section is complemented by a series of short essays tracing the formal and thematic developments in his art, and a selected bibliography and detailed exhibition history complete the book.This book was published to accompany the 1998 retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art, New York. My era was one of great contrasts, and I am the one who made the most of it. I am witness of my time. --Fernand Léger Edited by Carolyn Lanchner.Essays by Carolyn Lanchner, Jodi Hauptman and Matthew Affron. Introduction by Beth Handler. Foreword by Glenn D. Lowry.

About the Author
Fernand Léger was born in 1881 in north-western France, the only child of a cattle breeder and his wife. His early training was in architecture and draftsmanship; he began painting seriously upon moving to Paris in 1903. As a young artist, he exhibited regularly at the Salon d'Automne and was part of a circle that included Brancusi, Apollinaire, and the Puteaux group. His public debut as an avant-garde artist occurred in 1911, when one of his paintings was hung in the Cubist room at the Salon des Indépendants. Léger died in 1955.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Fernand Leger is the only major modern artist to choose modernity itself as his subject. From his early series "Contrastes de formes," of 1913-14 - the first fully abstract works to emerge from Cubism - through his paintings of construction workers from the late 1940s and early 1950s, his enduring subject was the pulse and dynamism of everyday life. Leger saw the twentieth-century environment as "a state of contrasts," a condition that he translated into art through forceful juxtapositions of shape, color, and line. His attempt to reconcile the formal concerns of artmaking with issues of social responsibility continues to be relevant to the art world of today. This book is published to accompany a retrospective exhibition appearing at The Museum of Modern Art in the winter and spring of 1998 - New York's first in-depth survey of Leger's work in over forty years. The essays include Carolyn Lanchner's account of Leger's experience of and interest in America (he visited the United States several times, and lived there during World War II), and also of America's interest in him. Jodi Hauptman explores refractions of Leger's interests in the work of more recent artists, and Matthew Affron discusses Leger's ambition to make an art reflecting the "new visual state" of modern life. The plate section reproduces over eighty of Leger's paintings and drawings, and is accompanied by a series of short essays tracing formal and thematic developments in his art.

FROM THE CRITICS

John Golding