This interdisciplinary exhibition takes as its inspiration and point of departure Fernand Léger’s 1919 painting The City, a cornerstone of the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s collection and one of the most important works in the history of modern art. The exhibition demonstrates that the painting inaugurated for the French artist an intense experimental period that lasted through the mid-1920s, during which he redefined the practice of painting by confronting it with forms of cultural production central to the public life of the modern city, such as graphic and advertising design, theater, film, and architecture.

With over one hundred works, including loans from American and European public and private collections, the exhibition sets a group of Léger’s paintings centered around The City within the context of the artist’s production in film and theater design, graphic design, and mural design, as well as a number of works in various media by avant-garde artists in his network of friends and collaborators. While many of his colleagues abandoned painting in favor of merging art with modern life, Léger instead developed a profoundly reciprocal relationship between his ongoing pursuit of painting and his exploration of artistic practices beyond the easel. By demonstrating these intimate links, this exhibition makes clear that Léger’s masterworks in painting were tied to his desire to engage more directly with new urban spaces, experiences, and audiences.

Sponsors

The exhibition is generously supported by The Women’s Committee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Annenberg Foundation Fund for Major Exhibitions, and Sotheby’s.

Curator

Anna Vallye, Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow in Modern and Contemporary Art

Location

Dorrance Special Exhibition Galleries, first floor