The French painter Fernand Léger (1881-1955) was one of the original cubists. The imagery of his mature paintings is concerned with the human figure in urban and technological environments.

At the turn of the century Paris was the acknowledged center of the international art world, a locus of extraordinary intellectual and creative vitality. Numerous artistic styles reached fruition at this time, included Fauvism, postimpressionism, and Art Nouveau. Moreover, there were individual masters working in Paris during these years, most notably Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso, who would affect the entire history of modern art. It was within this charged atmosphere that Fernand Léger began his career as a painter.

Léger was born in Argentan, Normandy, on Feb. 4, 1881. In 1900 he moved to Paris, where he worked as an architectural draftsman and studied briefly at the École des Beaux-Arts. During this period he...