From Architecture, You and Me (1958) by Siegfried Giedion:
Léger rebuilt his country place in the Chevreuse Valley without an architect. He thought it would serve him for a long time.
Here he invited his friends. A table was pushed into the studio and spread in the midst of the paintings. One ate here with delight, with all the necessary reverence a good meal deserves, for Léger was a first-class cook. He was also, in contrast to many great men, a most excellent companion. Some female creature was always around the place, but he never paraded this before the world. For him the problems of his work rested on a completely different level.
And on his period in New York, 1942-1945:
His studio in New York was near Fifth Avenue on 40th Street. Skyscrapers overshadowed it. Fernand Léger was working then on his great series of 'Divers' which posed the problem of depicting with a simple black outline hovering, falling, interlocking and transparent figures in weightless space. As he often did, Léger superimposed wide bands of clear colours. I stood in the studio with Moholy-Nagy and asked, "Why have red and blue patches been laid over the lineal structure of the bathers?" I knew that this was related to the play of contrasts that Léger always emphasized, but Moholy-Nagy gave the answer: "Don't you see that Léger must get even with those things out there?" - and he pointed to the skyscrapers. Defense by creative reaction.
(via Rob Annable, thanks!)
See also: 'Nine points on monumentality' (Sert, Léger and Giedion, 1943)
More How we work.
No problem! It's more about lifestyle than actual technique but it just about fits the bill.
Posted by: Rob | November 23, 2005 at 08:18 AM