L’Etoile Rouge 1938

Fernand Léger made L’Etoile Rouge with paint and canvas, in a style that is both crisp and jazzy. Léger is playing with the legacy of cubism, and the possibilities of abstraction, and the way the hard, clean edges play with the handmade-ness of the paint is very compelling. The grey background almost feels like paper and the black lines create flat shapes of vibrant color that pop right off the surface. The red is bold and confident, a primary force, while the yellow and blue elements offer a playful contrast, which all adds to a sense of playful experimentation. What strikes me most is the way the thick black outlines define everything but also seem to trap the colors within them. See how the red form on the right appears almost like a deconstructed flower or some sort of machine part? It's both organic and mechanical. Léger has connections to Picasso, and you can see a common urge to see the world from multiple perspectives at once, but the smoothness of the surface and the bold color are unique to Léger. His work reminds me that art is an ongoing conversation, where artists borrow, steal, and transform ideas across generations.