(Argentan 1881–1955 Gif-sur-Yvette)
Composition mécanique, 1923, monogrammed, dated F. L. 23, graphite on paper, 36.9 x 27.2 cm, framed

Photo-Certificate:
Irus Hansma, 30 September 2015 with the no. 111/09/2015.

Irus Hansma will include the work in her catalogue raisonné of works on paper, currently in preparation.

Provenance:
Private Collection, USA
Ketterer Kunst, Munich, 10 December 2016, lot 325 - acquired there by the present owner

Léger spent the initial post-war years developing the mechanical style he had begun to explore at the front. Léger's "période mécanique" is a phase of work in which he predominantly combined elements borrowed from the world of machines into abstract geometric composi-tions. In his "Composition mecanique" from 1923, Fernand Léger 'screws' the work together part by part in close sequence. The composition includes per-forated sheets, circles and rec-tangles. They interlock, complement and pene-trate each other and reappear in seemingly varied forms. One loses oneself in the web of differently nuanced grey lines and surfaces, and one’s eyes set off on a fascinating guided tour of exploration through the supposed heights and depths of the work.
The drawing offered here can be seen as a direct study for the 1924 painting "Élément mécanique", which is now in the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, in Paris.