Fernand Léger
Yellow Composition
1927
Scroll
Fernand Léger
Yellow Composition
1927
Physical Qualities
Oil on canvas, 36 x 29 in. (91.4 x 73.7 cm.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Saidie A. May
Object Number
1951.322
In developing his own approach to modernism, Léger assimilated aspects of numerous styles. His work before World War I could be considered Cubist, but his post-war work had the modern, hard-edged, machine-inspired aesthetic of Purism, an art movement promoted by painter Amédée Ozenfant and painter/architect Le Corbusier. In Yellow Composition, Léger returned to the city theme he had treated repeatedly in previous works. This time, however, he playfully combines the rectangular forms of architecture with the organic tendrils of a vine.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by bequest, 1951; The Baltimore Museum of Art on extended loan, 1940-1951; Saidie A. May by purchase, 1940; Valentine Gallery, Inc., New York; Galerie Kahnweiler, Paris; Chester Johnson Collection, Chicago; possibly MacCormick, England
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "A Century of Baltimore Collection", 1941, p. 94.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Still Life & Flower Paintings", 1945, no. 64.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Themes & Variations", 1948, no. 62.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "The Saidie A. May Collection of Modern Paintings and Sculpture", March 17-April 16, 1950, cat. 62.
Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Ohio, "Twentieth Century French Masters", 1952; circulated to Akron (Ohio) Museum; and Wocester Museum through April 1953.
Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, "Selections from the May Collection", September 17-October 31, 1957.
Columbus (Ohio) Gallery of Fine Arts, November 9-December 4, 1967.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "20th Century Paintings & Sculpture", July 9-September 23, 1969.
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT, "Impressionism to Surrealism from The Baltimore Museum of Art. Selections from the Collection of Claribel and Etta Cone, Saidie Adler May, and Blanche Adler", February 8-April 21, 2002, no. 18 pp. 16, pp.17 ill.
Katy Rothkopf, "Matisse, Picasso, and the School of Paris", circulated to; North Carolina Museum of Art, October 10, 2004-January 16, 2005; Naples Museum of Art February 5, 2005-May ,1 2005.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Still Life & Flower Paintings", 1945, no. 64.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Themes & Variations", 1948, no. 62.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "The Saidie A. May Collection of Modern Paintings and Sculpture", March 17-April 16, 1950, cat. 62.
Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Ohio, "Twentieth Century French Masters", 1952; circulated to Akron (Ohio) Museum; and Wocester Museum through April 1953.
Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, "Selections from the May Collection", September 17-October 31, 1957.
Columbus (Ohio) Gallery of Fine Arts, November 9-December 4, 1967.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "20th Century Paintings & Sculpture", July 9-September 23, 1969.
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT, "Impressionism to Surrealism from The Baltimore Museum of Art. Selections from the Collection of Claribel and Etta Cone, Saidie Adler May, and Blanche Adler", February 8-April 21, 2002, no. 18 pp. 16, pp.17 ill.
Katy Rothkopf, "Matisse, Picasso, and the School of Paris", circulated to; North Carolina Museum of Art, October 10, 2004-January 16, 2005; Naples Museum of Art February 5, 2005-May ,1 2005.
The Baltimore Museum of Art News, “Catalogue of the Saidie A. May Collection of Modern Paintings and Sculpture,” March, 1950, cat. 62, p. 17.
Georges Bauquier, "Fernand Léger: Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, 1925-1928," Paris: Adrien Maeght Éditeur, 1993, no. 550, p. 272, ill. p. 273.
Susan Helen Adler, "Saidie May Pioneer of Early 20th Century Collecting", United States: Stonehouse Design, 2008, p. 168.
Inscribed: Recto: LR, "F. Leger, '28"
