The Disks

© Estate of Fernand Léger/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
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The Disks

Alternate Title: Les Disques

France, 1918-1919
Paintings
Oil on canvas
51 1/8 x 38 1/4 in. (129.8575 x 97.16 cm)
David E. Bright Bequest (M.67.25.2)
Modern Art
Currently on public view:
Broad Contemporary Art Museum, floor 3

Since gallery displays may change often, please contact us before you visit to make certain this item is on view.

Provenance

The artist (1881-1955), until 1948; [Galerie Louis Carré, Paris]; sold by 1951 to David E. Bright (1908-1965), Los Angeles; bequeathed in 1967 to LACMA.

Label

More than one hundred years ago, Fernand Léger’s painting demonstrated a utopia (or nightmare) some still imagine today: the integration of people with technology....
More than one hundred years ago, Fernand Léger’s painting demonstrated a utopia (or nightmare) some still imagine today: the integration of people with technology. The figures on the lower left and middle right are barely distinguishable either from each other or from the machinery of wheels and levers. The painting’s foreground and background merge to demonstrate the codependence of humans and their tools, with Léger’s color scheme communicating optimism and energy. But the disjointed and fragmented forms equally introduce disquiet into the scene, evoking the violence of World War I, which had just ended in November 1918.

Wall label, 2021.
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Bibliography

  • Bauquier, Georges, with Nelly Maillard. Fernand Léger: Catalogue raisonné, 1903-1919. Paris: Adrien Maeght, 1990. Catalogue raisonné, vol. I, no. 148, p. 266-267, illustrated.
  • Powell III, Earl A., Robert Winter, and Stephanie Barron. The Robert O. Anderson Building. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1986.
  • Bauquier, Georges, with Nelly Maillard. Fernand Léger: Catalogue raisonné, 1903-1919. Paris: Adrien Maeght, 1990. Catalogue raisonné, vol. I, no. 148, p. 266-267, illustrated.
  • Powell III, Earl A., Robert Winter, and Stephanie Barron. The Robert O. Anderson Building. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1986.
  • Muchnic, Suzanne. LACMA So Far: Portrait of a Museum in the Making. San Marino, California: Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, 2015.
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