Skating Rink the Insane drawing of costume for Jean Börlin 1921

Fernand Léger made this drawing for a costume for Jean Börlin, using black ink, with cut-out paper shapes in orange. It's a playful arrangement, isn't it? Léger builds a figure from geometric forms, with minimal strokes to create a surreal and slightly unsettling image. I wonder, was he thinking about bodies as machines? It’s all there in the materials—that flat orange rectangle could be a scarf or tie… who knows? I love the way the stripes of the trousers become like scaffolding, and the little eyes that are placed so high on the head, as if looking down at us. Léger was part of an exciting period of pushing at the boundaries of painting. It's as if he's saying: "Here are the basic shapes of the human form, let's see what we can do with them!" His simplified forms became part of a larger conversation between painters. We keep recycling ideas, finding something new in what came before.