Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris
Galerie Europe, Paris & Brussels
Paul Haim, Paris
Private Collection, New York
ACA Galleries, New York
Private Collection, New York (acquired from the above)
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Brussels, Galerie Europe, 50 ans de peinture moderne, 1956, no. 32

Georges Bauquier, Fernand Léger, Catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre peint, 1949-1951, Paris, 2003, vol. VIII, no. 1387, illustrated in colour p. 117

The canvas is wax-lined. There are tiny specks of retouching to the blue background along all four edges, visible under UV light. There are several pinhead-sized spots of retouching to the white area in the bottom left of the central composition, also visible under UV light. This work is in good condition.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Deux brosses et un sac à main is a still life made up of objects belonging to the artist's wife, and exemplifies Léger's interest in juxtaposing figurative and abstract elements to undermine the spatial conventions of the still life genre. Flat blocs of colour are contrasted with organic forms to create images that hover between figuration and abstraction. Discussing his still-life paintings, the artist stated 'I dispersed my objects in space and kept them all together while at the same time making them radiate out from the surface of the picture. A tricky interplay of harmonies and rhythms is made up of background and surface colours, guidelines, distances and oppositions' (quoted in Werner Schmalenbach, Fernand Léger, New York, 1976, p. 132).