Flint 1933

Fernand Léger made this drawing of flint with ink on paper. Imagine Léger outside, picking up the stone, turning it over in his hand. What would it be like to try to capture its weight, its density? He uses all these tiny, repetitive marks to describe what he sees. It’s about his careful attention, not necessarily perfection or realism. He’s not trying to trick us into thinking it's a photograph. The marks are almost like his version of the object’s molecules! I love how he lets the mark-making be visible. In a way, it’s like he’s showing us how he’s seeing. Artists are always in conversation with each other across time. Léger learned from Cubism and Surrealism, but here he is in his own world, showing the way the natural world is both strange and beautiful.