Composition aux Deux Personnages 1920

Fernand Léger made this drawing, Composition aux Deux Personnages, out of crayon, around 1920. Look at how Léger creates these solid, chunky forms, almost like architectural blocks or machine parts, and softens them with hatched crayon shading. It's about making an image, sure, but also about how you make an image. You can almost feel the grain of the paper under the crayon. See how the shading isn't smooth, but built up from lots of tiny, parallel lines. It's a very physical process, layering on the marks to build up tone and volume. Then, there are other parts where he digs in, pressing hard to create these intense dark areas. Notice the line that runs down the center of the figure’s leg; it suggests an edge and a light source but also a kind of division. Léger’s work has some affinity with Picasso and Braque, but he also looks forward to artists like Philip Guston, who find a way of creating a personal language out of these constructed forms. It reminds us that art isn’t just about what you see, but what you *feel* when you see it.