Etude pour La Partie de campagne 1950

Fernand Léger made this ink drawing, Etude pour La Partie de campagne, as a study for a painting – it’s all there in boldly brushed blacks and grays. You can really feel Léger relishing the strokes of the brush as he moves across the paper, almost like he’s sculpting the scene as much as he's depicting it. I imagine Léger here, thinking about how to capture the feeling of leisure, of a day spent in the countryside, using simple, strong contrasts. Maybe he’s pondering the relationship between figures and forms, people and nature. The thickness of the ink varies, creating different depths, and the figures are interwoven with the landscape. Look at how he renders the trees, those dark marks against the sky, they give a sense of volume and weight. This piece reminds me of other artists who play with the balance between abstraction and representation. Léger is in conversation with them, pushing and pulling at the edges of what a painting can be. It’s all about that ongoing exchange of ideas across time, isn't it?