#marcchagall #printemps #lithograph #c1938 #france #surrealistart #surrealism #modernism #modernart #art #france #frenchmodernism

Fernand Léger first saw the work of Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso at the Paris gallery of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler. Around 1909 Léger began to paint in a Cubist style, although his compositions in this mode are more colorful and curvilinear than works by Braque and Picasso of the same period, with their angular forms and subdued tones. An artist with far-ranging interests and talents, Léger later became a designer for theater, opera, and ballet, as well as a book illustrator, filmmaker, muralist, ceramist, and teacher. Typically, Léger would develop a major composition by preparing studies in a variety of media. The Railway Crossing is an oil study for The Level Crossing (1919; private collection, Basel, Switzerland). When he took up this subject in 1919, he made a number of drawings and oil sketches, including the present work. Like many of his contemporaries, Léger was fascinated by the machine age. He maintained that machines and industrial objects were as important to his art as figures. References to such elements pervade The Railway Crossing. In the midst of a complex scaffolding of cylinders and beams, an arrow appears on a brightly outlined signboard. A network of solid volumes and flat forms seems to circulate within the shallow space, just as pistons move within a motor. The precise definition of his forms and the brilliance of his palette express Léger’s belief that the machine, along with the age it created, was one of the triumphs of modern civilization.

The Railway Crossing (Sketch)
oil on canvas
1919
Fernand Léger (1881-1955)
France

#fernandleger #art #modernart #therailwaycrossing #oilpainting #c1919 #france #frenchmodernism #modernpainting #20thcenturyart #modernism #cubism #tubism #cubistart #machineage #europe #europeanart

#wassilykandinsky #russia #france #cross #c1926 #oilpainting #art #modernart #constructivistart #abstract #geometric #modernpainting #frenchmodernism #constructivism

In her Portrait of Père Ubu, Maar created one of Surrealism’s most striking images. Using extreme close-up and dramatic lighting in an otherwise unmanipulated photograph, she made a nightmarish apparition from a baby armadillo. Both horrific and comical, it is a fitting embodiment of Père Ubu, the obese blundering monster Alfred Jarry created in his notorious play Ubu Roi (1896). Surrealist photographs were also used to reveal the strangeness of the world we think we know, often by simply presenting it in a new way. Dora Maar titled her photograph of a baby armadillo after the anti-hero of Alfred Jarry’s famously transgressive and iconoclastic play Ubu Roi (1896), which was much admired by the Surrealists. The close-up image of the animal’s unfamiliar form is startling in itself, but by connecting the armadillo to Père Ubu, Maar created an emotional resonance for viewers familiar with the character. Suddenly, the small animal is transformed into a large, greedy, and violent human being — what was perhaps merely strange becomes monstrous. This is possible in part because of the way the photograph distorts our sense of scale by close-cropping and isolating the animal within the frame.

Père Ubu
gelatin silver print
1936
Dora Maar (1907-1997)
France

#photography #surrealism #surrealistphotography #pereubu #doramaar #frenchmodernism #modernism #modernart #art #france #paris #c1936 #baby #armadillo #grotesque #horror

Henri Laurens, who associated closely with the avant-garde painters of his native Paris, worked in a Cubist idiom from 1915. In about 1920 he turned from the production of bas-reliefs and frontalized constructions to the execution of more classically ordered, freestanding sculptures. Head of a Young Girl may have appeared originally as a drawing. However, in this bust Laurens expresses Cubist painting principles in essentially sculptural terms. The tilted surfaces and geometric volumes of the sculpture interpenetrate to constitute a compact whole. Circling the piece, the viewer perceives dramatically different aspects of the head, which provide a variety of visual experiences unexpected in a form so schematically reduced. The structuring planes of one side of the head are broad and unadorned; its edges and planar junctures form strong, uninterrupted curves and straight lines. The other side is articulated with detail; its jagged, hewn contour describing hair contrasts rhythmically with the sweeping curve of the opposite cheek. Laurens slices into the polyhedron that determines the facial planes to describe nose, upper lip, and chin at one stroke. The subtle modeling, particularly of the almond eye and simplified mouth, produces nuanced relations of light and shadow. Despite the geometric clarity of structure, the delicacy of the young girl’s features and her self-contained pose create a gentle, meditative quality.

Head of a Young Girl
(Tête de jeune fillette)
terracotta
1920
Henri Laurens (1885-1954)
Paris, France

#cubism #cubistsculpture #sculpture #art #henrilaurens #france #frenchmodernism #modernism #vintagemodern #headofayoundgirl #terracotta #modernart #modernsculpture #frenchsculpture #c1920 #paris

Guitar Player
patinated bronze
1918
Jacques Lipchitz (1891-1973)
France

#cubism #cubistsculpture #guitarplayer #jacqueslipchitz #sculpture #art #modernart #modernsculpture #cubistart #france #frenchmodernism #modernism #design

Man Ray made his "rayographs" without a camera by placing objects-such as the thumbtacks, coil of wire, and other circular forms used here-directly on a sheet of photosensitized paper and exposing it to light. Man Ray had photographed everyday objects before, but these unique, visionary images immediately put the photographer on par with the avant-garde painters of the day. Hovering between the abstract and the representational, the rayographs revealed a new way of seeing that delighted the Dadaist poets who championed his work, and that pointed the way to the dreamlike visions of the Surrealist writers and painters who followed.

Spiral
rayograph, photogram, photograph
1923
Man Ray (1890-1976)
American in Paris

#dada #art #artist #manray #rayograph #photogram #photography #surrealism #surrealistart #americaninparis #paris #france #frenchmodernism #modernism #modernart #surrealistphotography #spiral

Fernand Léger (1881–1955) was a French painter, sculptor, and filmmaker who pioneered "Tubism," a, distinctive form of Cubism characterized by tubular, mechanical forms and bold, primary colors. Influenced by modern industrial technology, his art celebrated the dynamism of urban life. His work evolved from early Cézanne-inspired paintings to a "mechanical" period, later becoming more figurative and populist. In his mature style, Fernand Léger worked a great deal with human forms, figures with flowing contours and with strong colours over the whole field. These dancers fly forward from the left and a draped piece of cloth on the right and the winding stalk of a rose the dancer on the left is holding in her hand contrast with the full surfaces of the dancers' skin. The keys? The keys are the starting point of the architectonic design on the right-hand side of the painting, contrasting in turn with the two triangular shapes. And finally, in contrast to the square and pointed shapes is a rounded, gently flowing "cloud frame" which completes the composition at the top and the bottom.

Les danseuses aux clés
(Dancers with Keys)
oil on canvas
1930
Fernand Léger (1881-1955)
France

#fernandleger #france #art #painting #modernart #cubism #tubism #lesdanseusesauxcles #dancerswithkeys #oilpainting #c1930 #modernism #geometry #figurative #20thcenturyart #frenchart #frenchmodernism

Reader II
Limestone
1919
Jacques Lipchitz
(1891-1973, France)

#sculpture #cubism #cubistsculpture #jacqueslipchitz #limestone #c1919 #Paris #france #frenchmodernism #modernism #moderndesign #modernsculpture #20thcenturyart #art

Staying with Charles Despiau: Madame Stone, 1926-27. Bronze portrait bust capturing the refined features and inner calm that defined Despiau’s intimate classicism.

Bequest of Chester Dale to @metmuseum.org

#sculpture #sculptor #CharlesDespiau #FrenchModernism

Charles Despiau, Assia, 1938. Life-size bronze standing nude, worked in secret for four years before unveiling at the 1937 Paris Exposition. Gift of Mrs. Simon Guggenheim to @moma.bsky.social

#sculpture #sculptor #CharlesDespiau #FrenchModernism

Like Constantin Brâncusi, Max Ernst was fascinated with birds, and among his earliest works incorporating this motif are some two dozen small, unconventional pictures made around 1925. One of these works was incorporated as a picture within a picture in Human Figure with Two Birds, a painting that set the stage for an extraordinary series of works that Ernst began in 1930, which featured a large, fantastic bird figure that the artist identified as Loplop. In these works, Loplop, the artist’s “private phantom attached to my person,” generally holds up a picture for presentation. Here the rudimentary figure outlined in white is an early manifestation of Loplop, Ernst’s playful, surreal concept of self-portraiture by proxy.

Human Figure with Two Birds
oil on paper mounted on wood
1925/29
Max Ernst
French, born Germany, 1891–1976

#surrealism #maxernsst #Paris #surrealistart #painting #Frenchmodernism #circa1925 #humanfigurewithtwobirds #oilpainting #loplop #selfportrait #dada

Sedia Charlotte Perriand Meribel, 1950 #MeribelChair #PerriandDesign #DesignFrançais #FrenchModernism #MidcenturyFrance #MountainDesign

Robert Deblander (1922-2008) French ceramist, a leading figure in the post-war stoneware renaissance and contemporary ceramic art. Graduating from the École des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in 1944, Robert Deblander immersed himself in pottery through various apprenticeships, notably under Pierre Pigaglio in Saint-Amand-en-Puisaye. Establishing his own studio in Neuilly-sur-Seine in 1949, Deblander's work evolved from 1950s aesthetics to sculptural stoneware pieces reminiscent of Brancusi or Gilioli. His later works introduced color and experimentation with porcelain, earning him recognition, including the 2002 Liliane Bettencourt Prize for Ceramic Arts.

Ceramic platter
circa 1950s
Robert Deblander
(1922-2008)
France

#ceramic #art #modernart #robertdeblander #platter #abstract #modernistceramics #vintage1950s #handmade #ceramicart #oneofakind #sculpture #frenchdesign #frenchceramics #midcenturyfrance #frenchmodernism #modernism #moderndesign

plaster sculpture by Jacques Lipchitz Kosme María de Barañano, Jacques Lipchitz: The Plasters, a Catalogue Raisonné, 1911–1973 (Bilbao: BBK, Fundación Bilbao Bizkaia Kutxa, 2009), no. 258. Donated by the artist; the Jacques and Yulla Lipchitz Foundation, New York; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2019.

'Pastoral' sculpture
plaster
1942
Jacques Lipchitz
French and American, born Lithuania (1891-1973)

#art #modernart #sculpture #jacqueslipchitz #pastoral #dated1942 #modernsculpture #20thcenturyart #frenchmodernism

Jean Hélion (April 21, 1904 – October 27, 1987) was a French painter whose abstract work of the 1930s established him as a leading modernist. His midcareer rejection of abstraction was followed by nearly five decades as a figurative painter. He was also the author of several books and an extensive body of critical writing.

Twin Figures
oil on canvas
1938
Jean Hélion
French, 1904–1987

Originally purchased by Peggy Guggenheim, then donated to the Art Institute of Chicago

#art #modernart #painting #modernpainting #abstractart #modernism #twinfigures #jeanhelion #frenchmodernism #frenchart #dated1938

Bird cup
Ceramic
1958
Roger Capron
1922-2006
France

#rogercapron #handmade #ceramic
#bird
#cup
#modernism
#modernistceramics
#vintage1950s
#moderndesign #frenchmodernism

Paris/Front de Seine/Le Village #modernistarchitecture #architecture #architecturelovers #archilovers #frenchmodernism #paris #parisarchitecture #parismodernistarchitecture

Paris/Front de Seine/Tour Totem #modernistarchitecture #architecture #architecturelovers #archilovers #frenchmodernism #paris #parisarchitecture #parismodernistarchitecture

Paris/Front de Seine/Orion 55 #jeanprouvé #jeanprouvéarchitecture #modernistarchitecture #architecture #architecturelovers #archilovers #frenchmodernism #paris #parisarchitecture #parismodernistarchitecture

Poupée-basset
bronze
Jean (Hans) Arp
French, born Germany (Alsace), 1886–1966

#art #modernart #sculpture #arp #biomorphism #bronze #poupeebasset #frenchmodernism

Still Life oil on canvas 1922 Pablo Picasso Spanish, active France, 1881–1973 #art #modernart #painting #oiloncanvas #picasso #pablopicasso #stilllife #dated1922 #modernism #modernistart #cubism #cubistart #frenchmodernism #france

Still Life
oil on canvas
1922
Pablo Picasso
Spanish, active France, 1881–1973

#art #modernart #painting #oiloncanvas #picasso #pablopicasso #stilllife #dated1922 #modernism #modernistart #cubism #cubistart #frenchmodernism #france

Among sculptors of his generation in Europe, Constantin Brancusi was arguably the most influenced by African art in his choices of materials and forms, but it was not until the middle of his career, in the 1920s and 1930s, that he chose to represent his impression of an African subject in two related series: White Negress and Blond Negress. According to the artist, the impetus for these works was a visit to the 1922 Colonial Exposition—an expansive exhibition demonstrating France’s dominance as a colonial power held in Marseille—where he observed a woman he understood to be of African descent. The anonymous subject, rendered as an elongated volume with just two features, lips and hair, reflected European stereotypes about African physiognomy, and presented the paradox of seeing a black body represented in light-colored materials. White in the title refers to the color of the marble, which at once relates to the tradition of marble statuary but also to an ongoing 20th-century fetishism of black bodies. In the blond versions, this same form appears in highly polished, mirror-like bronze.

White Negress II
White and black marble, stone, wood
1928
Constantin Brancusi

Romanian, active France, 1876–1957

#art #modernart #sculpture #modernsculpture #modernism #moderndesign #handmade #oneofakind #frenchmodernism #brancusi #france #brancusisculpture #aic

Two Penguins
marble
1911/14
Constantin Brancusi
Romanian, active France, 1876–1957

#sculpture #art #modernart #modernsculpture #brancusi #twopenguins #marble #oneofakind #frenchmodernism #modernism #moderndesign #vintagemodern

Numbered, inscribed and dated, proper right of rear base: “6/6 R DUCHAMP-VILLON/1914”; inscribed, center of rear base: “Susse Fondeur Paris” 99 × 61 × 91.4 cm (39 3/8 × 24 × 36 in.) Writing in 1913 to his friend the American art historian Walter Pach, Raymond Duchamp-Villon declared, “The power of the machine imposes itself upon us and we can scarcely conceive living bodies without it.” That year the French sculptor began his preliminary sketches and clay studies for Horse, progressively abstracting these initial naturalistic renderings of the animal’s anatomy into a coiled configuration of geometric forms suggestive of pistons, gears, and shafts. Optimistically embracing the clean aesthetic and dynamic potential of the machine, Duchamp-Villon reinterpreted the traditional subject of equestrian sculpture for the modern era. The artist completed only a small plaster of the final version of Horse; he died before he could realize his plans to enlarge and cast it in bronze. This was done by his brothers, Jacques Villon and Marcel Duchamp, in 1930–31.

Horse
bronze
1914
Raymond Duchamp-Villon
French, 1876–1918

#modernism #art #sculpture #bronze #modernart #earlymodern #modernsculpture #horse #dated1914
#raymondduchampvillon #france #frenchmodernism #aic #artinstituteofchicago

Reclining Woman
1922
Fernand Léger
French, 1881–1955

#modernart #fernandleger #france #frenchmodernism #painting #modernism #everydaypoeticimages