Two women with the toilet, final state 1920

Editor: Here we have Fernand Léger’s “Two Women with the Toilet, final state,” an oil on canvas completed in 1920. It has this almost robotic, machine-like quality to it. What can you tell us about this painting? Curator: Looking at this, I immediately think about Léger’s engagement with the Machine Age. He isn't just representing women; he's dissecting and reassembling the human form using the visual language of industry—cylinders, cones, and blocks. Consider the materials he uses. Oil paint, while traditional, is applied in a way that emphasizes the cold, hard geometry of metal and mass production. Editor: So, the “toilet” in the title isn’t necessarily about domesticity but something else? Curator: Precisely. I read the title ironically; the inclusion of an everyday item elevates industrial aesthetics over traditional high art subjects. It also serves as a symbol of consumption. The toilet, an indoor facility of many, indicates a progression and reliance on manufacturing, with all aspects and materials mass-produced to be bought by society. In this, do you see a challenge to traditional notions of what is considered ‘artistic’ material? Editor: Definitely. It blurs the line between art and the everyday objects churned out by factories, all supported and propelled forward by consumerism. It's not about idealizing feminine beauty in the classical sense, but maybe acknowledging the changing roles of women in this modern industrialized world, working within these systems. Curator: Absolutely. The emphasis is on the construction, the labor, and the materiality itself. It prompts us to question the social and economic forces shaping art and life in the 20th century. Editor: I never thought about the social commentary being made with shapes and cylinders. I learned so much! Curator: Indeed. Focusing on the production reveals Léger's ambition to make art that reflected the stark new realities of an industrial age, even in portraiture.