Cirque

Image Not Available

Expand

IIIFView PDF

Images(6)

Image Not Available

Cirque

Artist Fernand Léger (French, 1881-1955)

Publisher Tériade, Paris, 1950

Printer Mourlot Frères, [Paris]

Author Fernand Léger (French, 1881-1955)

Date1950

DimensionsSlipcase: H: 17 7/16 in. (443 mm); W: 13 3/8 in. (340 mm); Depth: 1 7/8 in. (48 mm).
Chemise: H: 17 3/16 in. (435 mm); W: 13 3/8 in. (339 mm); Depth: 1 5/8 in. (41 mm).
Book: H: 16 3/4 in. (425 mm); W: 13 1/8 in. (333 mm); Depth: 1 7/16 in. (37 mm).
Page (untrimmed): H: 16 5/8 in. (423 mm); W: 12 5/8 in. (320 mm).

MediumOriginal prints: 83 lithographs, incl. 49 in black and 34 in color (incl. wrappers). Text: letterpress and lithography in black. Paper: Arches cream wove paper, watermarked.

ClassificationBooks

Credit LineGift of Molly and Walter Bareiss

Object number

1984.669

Not on View

Label TextFernand Léger, Cirque (Circus). Text by Fernand Léger (1950) Cirque was originally conceived as a collaboration between Fernand Léger and the novelist Henry Miller. At a time when the two were interested in working together, the publisher Efstratios Tériade Léger approached Leger to make prints for an artist’s book. Tériade hoped to publish a series of such books with the circus as the theme. Léger was a circus enthusiast who often used circus images in his paintings. He often went to the Cirque Médrano in Paris and the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus in New York. He agreed to the project and suggested that Miller write the text. Miller wrote a tragic tale of a disenchanted clown (published as The Smile at the Foot of the Ladder), which Tériade rejected. He had published two earlier circus-related projects, Rouault’s Divertissement and Matisse’s Jazz. Both artists had written their texts, so he asked Léger to write Cirque. Léger wrote about life and art framed within the context of the circle, which he saw as symbolic of wholeness, continuity and freedom. To Léger the circus and the circle were inseparable: “What is a circus if not a machine that produces circles? …acrobats, horseback riders, bicycles, clowns, animals—on a perfectly round ring …Go to the circus, quit your rectangles…and you go to the land of circles in action.”Published Referencescf. Castleman, Riva, A Century of Artists Books, New York, 1994, p. 95, reprs. (1 col.)

cf. A Catalogue of the Gifts of Lessing J. Rosenwald to the Library of Congress, 1943 to 1975, Washington, 1977, no. 2203

cf. Garvey, Eleanor M., The Artist & the Book, 1860--1960, Boston, 1961, no. 164, repr.

cf. Hogben, Carol, Rowan Watson, editors, From Manet to Hockney: Modern Artists’ Illustrated Books, London, 1985, no. 123, reprs.

cf. Saphire, Lawrence, Léger: The Complete Graphic Work, New York, 1978, nos. 44--106, reprs. (some col.)

cf. Strachan, W. J., The Artist and the Book in France; The 20th Century livre d'artiste, New York, 1969, pp. 136, 336

cf. Johnson, Robert Flynn, Artists' Books in the Modern Era 1870--2000: The Reva and David Logan Collection of Illustrated Books, San Francisco, 2001, no. 131.

Exhibition History

Toledo Museum of Art, Don't Feed the Books: Birds, Bugs, and Bestiaries, Featuring the Molly and Walter Bareiss Collection of Modern Illustrated Books, 2001, repr. (col.) cover.

Toledo Museum of Art, Splendid Pages: The Molly and Walter Bareiss Collection of Modern Illustrated Books, Feb. 14--May 11, 2003.

Toledo Museum of Art, Looks Good on Paper: Masterworks and Favorites, Oct. 10, 2014-Jan. 11, 2015.

Toledo Museum of Art, In Motion: Dance and Performance in Art, September 18, 2015- January 3, 2016.