The Sitted Woman 1914

Editor: Here we have Fernand Léger's "The Sitted Woman," an oil painting from 1914. It's quite a departure from traditional portraiture with its geometric shapes and bold colors. It feels almost mechanical. What strikes you about this piece? Curator: Well, immediately I think of Léger’s fascination with machinery and industrialization. Note how he breaks down the human form into cylinders, cones, and other mechanical shapes. It’s not just about *seeing* a woman, it's about dissecting her, much like the Fordist system dissected labor into its basic, repeatable units. Do you see a commentary on the dehumanizing effects of the machine age in his process? Editor: I do. It's as if the painting mirrors the repetitive and often alienating factory work of the time. The woman's identity is almost erased by this mechanization of form. Is there any connection to material consumption at that time? Curator: Absolutely. Léger himself worked as an architectural draughtsman, deeply embedded within industrial production. He observed the impact of mass-produced objects on daily life. So he appropriates those forms, and in doing so he invites us to consider art itself as another form of production, as labor itself made visible through oil on canvas. Think about the commodification of labor, skills, and raw materials that enable the artwork's making! How might that relate to our interpretation? Editor: So, by using these mechanical forms, Léger isn’t just depicting the world, he's commenting on how industry and materials shaped people and art itself during the rise of the machine age? Curator: Precisely. Léger presents labor, the use of raw materials and social commentary through his chosen geometric forms and his bold treatment of his media. Editor: It is great how his choice of geometrical shape really highlights this connection between labor, industrialisation and artistic creation.