New York 1944

Fernand Léger made this painting, New York, with gouache on paper. He used blacks, blues, reds, and yellows. The paper's small, so it feels like a concentrated burst of activity! I can imagine Léger in his studio, puzzling over the canvas, making one mark, then another, each a response to the last. Look at the central blue square filled with white crosses, a grid in motion, an attempt to organize, or maybe just a way of framing other visual material? There are also stripes, thick black lines, and biomorphic shapes. The colours are laid down pretty flat, but they vibrate against each other. The surface is alive with energy. He’s in conversation with so many artists here: the early cubists, but also maybe some American modernists, who were also grappling with the dynamism of urban life. It’s like a visual diary entry, a record of his encounter with a new place. He is making marks on the paper, and opening up a world of possibilities for those of us who look at the painting.