Art - Fernand Lèger

Argentan in Normandy is the birthplace of Fernand Léger, an underestimated artist, even nowadays. Léger, who was born in 1881, was the child of a cattle-breeder, who died died when Fernand was sixteen.
His mother and uncle weren't very happy with Léger's choice to become an artist, so they forced him to go to a school for architecture in Caen.
Léger moved to Paris in 1900 and he had a job as a construction draughtsman for a period of two years.
But he had to join the army and Léger couldn't resume his normal life until his duty had ended.
He took lessons at the École des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, but on an irregular basis, because he didn't like the way of learning. He became a pupil at the studio of Gérôme and later at the studio of Ferrier. Gérôme had a greater influence on him, than Ferrier, although Gérôme was very conservative artist.
Léger saw works by Cézanne at an exhibition in 1907, after a break in Corsica. Those paintings had a tremendous effect on him. He moved to La Ruche, where he had a studio and lived among other artists. Léger became friends with the poet Blaise Cendrars and Robert Delaunay. The latter was member of a group of cubic painters, who called themselves the Section d'Or. Léger was also a member and exhibited his work together with work of other Section d'Or members. This wasn't Léger's first exhibition with fellow cubic painters, he had exhibited his paintings together with Picasso and Braque in 1910. The war broke out, just as Fernand Léger's fame began to cross borders. Léger served in the army as an orderly, but he was a victim of a German gas-attack in 1916, and he had to stay almost a year in hospital.
He married Jeanne Lohy, his first wife, a year after the war. Léger took part in many artistic activities between 1920 and 1924. He wrote for the periodical 'L'Esprit Nouveau' after he had met LeCorbusier. The decor of the ballet 'Skating Rink' by Rolf de Maré's Ballets Suédois were one of his next projects, he also worked together with Robert Delaunay. 'La Creation du Monde' is another ballet by the Ballets Suédois and based on a book by Blaise Cendrars. Darius Milhaud composed the music and Léger designed the decor. He also worked together with Man Ray, Georges Antheuil and Dudley Murphy, they made the first 'abstract' film. Léger was also a teacher at the Académie de l'Art Contemporain.
Léger flee to the United States during the Second World War, he had visited the United States before. There were numerous exhibitions in the United States and he had the opportunity to teach at Yale and Mills College in Oakland, California. But he didn't stay in the United States after the war, he returned to France, where he worked on a series of ecclesiastical orders.
His wife died in 1950, and he married Nadia Kodessevich two years later. Léger had a strong political conviction, and he often visited communist congresses and symphatized with other socialist parties. He died in 1955, after he had visited a congress in Czechoslovakia.