Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris

Perls Galleries, New York

Fritz & Peter Nathan, Zürich

Annely Juda, London

Waddington Galleries, London

Sale: Christie's London: Monda🗹y, June 25, 1990, lot 58

Private Collection

Bern, Kunsthalle, Fernand Léger, 1952, no. 94

Georges Bauquier, Fernand Léger, Catalogue raisonné, 1949-1951, Paris, 1990, no. 1377, illustrated in color p. 103 (with incorrect dimensions 73 by 97)

Original canvas. Under ultra-violet light, there are a couple of minor lines of retouching in the left of the extreme upper left edge and one hairline vertical line of retouching the the yellow flower in the center. Overall, this work is in excellent condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Verging between figuration and abstraction, Fleurs et dominos combines everyday objects – scattered dominos – with biomorphic and abstract forms.  The various elements that make up the composition are 💃all rendered in the same, two-dimensional manner, thus emphasising the flatness of the picture plane.  Executed in large blocks of solid pigment and heavily delineated in black outlines, the work encapsulates Léger's belief in the key role of pure color in his painting.  Rather than representing a likeness of the world that surrounds him, the artist uses overlapping patches of color as the principal element of the composition, creating new spatial relationships within the two-dimensional plane of the canvas.  As a result, Léger's composition defies a sense of gravity and transcends ꩵthe earth-bound nature of a traditional landscape or still-life.

 

Léger himself explained the abstract element of his painting: 'The realistic value of a work of art is completely independent of any imitative character.  This truth should be accepted as dogma and made axiomatic in the general understanding of painting [...]  Pictorial realism is the simultaneous ordering of three great plastic components: Lines, Forms and Colours [...] the modern concept is not a reaction against the impressionists' idea but is, on the contrary, a further development and expansion of their aims through the use of methods they neglected [...].  Present-day life, more fragmented and faster moving than life in previous eras, has had to accept as its means of expression an art of dynamic divisionism; and the sentimental side, the expression of the subject (in the sense of popular expression), has reached a critical moment [...].  The modern conception is not simply a passing abstraction, valid only for a few initiates; it is the total expression of a new generation whose needs it shares and whose aspirations it answers' (quoted in Dorothy Kosinski (ed.), Fernand Léger, 1911-1924, The Rhythm of Modern Life, Munich and New York, 1994, pp. 66-67).