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Léger: The Father of Pop Art

Léger's unique form of Cubism that relied on cylindrical forms was influential to many abstract painters and sculptors, including Henry Moore, while his bold use of color in combination with his idea of art as something that "everyone can understand" inspired many Pop artists. Léger's belief that art can unify people may even have influenced community-based art as activism movements, such as Fluxus.

Fernand Léger National Museum, Biot, France

"Fernand Léger (1881-1955) lived through a period of extraordinary changes that transformed everyday life. He experienced the transition from candle and gaslight to electricity, from horse-drawn carts to the automobile and airplane, and from a mostly rural society to one that was increasingly urban. His generation also saw the invention of new communications media such as film, telegraph, and radio. Léger recognized how the accelerated pace of life affected art." philamuseum.org

Portrait of Leger in his studio, 1929 by M. Seuphor

"If pictorial expression has changed, it is because modern life has necessitated it... The view through the door of the railroad car or the automobile windshield, in combination with the speed, has altered the habitual look of things. A modern man registers a hundred times more sensory impressions than an 18th century artist... The compression of the modern picture, its variety, its breaking up of forms, are the result of all this." Fernand Leger

During the 1950s the renowned French printer, Fernand Mourlot, printed most of the "original" posters of the most important artists of the day. In 1959 they printed the series "Affiches Originales" for collectors. They are reduced lithographic versions of the "original" posters created by the contemporary masters, Picasso, Chagall, Braque, Matisse, Miró, Leger, and Dufy.