Dancer the dog (The dog on the ball, Study for the Grande Parade 1952

Fernand Léger made this gouache on paper, Dancer the dog (The dog on the ball, Study for the Grande Parade), and what strikes me is the clarity of form combined with the playful arrangement of shapes and figures. It's like Léger is setting the stage, arranging his players within a geometric proscenium. The painting feels very grounded in its materiality: the smooth surface, and opaque swathes of color separated by decisive black lines. The dog itself—precariously balanced on that ball—is rendered with a flat, almost cartoonish quality. Look at the way the black spots are evenly distributed, as if stenciled on! Léger’s simplified forms remind me a little of Stuart Davis, both artists using a reduced visual language to capture the energy of modern life. But while Davis’s work buzzes with jazzy syncopation, Léger maintains a sense of grounded, almost classical composure. I can imagine Léger saying that a painting, like a circus, is all about balance!