Skating Rink the Insane drawing of costume for Jean Börlin 1921

Fernand Léger made this costume design for Jean Börlin, for a ballet with the incredible title *Skating Rink*. Look at the way he uses blocks of colour and simple lines – it's so bold. Léger is all about process, isn’t he? You can see it in the directness of those lines, how he's not trying to hide anything. It feels like he’s saying, “Here it is, this is how it's made.” The orange scarf is the standout. It’s not blended or shaded; it’s just there, a flat plane of colour, almost collaged onto the surface. It’s a jolt, a little off-kilter, which brings out the playfulness. And those eyes at the top, peering out above the scarf! It's a design, but it feels like a character. There’s a kind of weird humor in the flattened forms, and yet it still looks elegant. I'm reminded of Picasso, who was also working through similar ideas about form and representation around this time. It’s like they're having a conversation across canvases, an ongoing experiment of how we see and what we make of it.