La Ville

Artist Fernand Léger (French, 1881-1955)

Publisher Tériade, Paris, 1959

Printer lithographs: Mourlot Frères, [Paris]; text: l’Imprimerie Nationale, Paris

Date1959

DimensionsBox: H: 27 9/16 in. (700 mm): W: 21 1/8 in. (537 mm); Depth: 1 1/8 in. (29 mm).
Sheet (untrimmed): H: 26 in. (660 mm); W: 19 7/8 in. (505 mm).

MediumPortfolio of 29 lithographs, on Arches cream wove paper, watermarked.

ClassificationPrints

Credit LineGift of Molly and Walter Bareiss

Object number

1984.671A-DD

Not on View

Label TextPublisher: Tériade Henri Laurens, Les idylles (Idylls), Text by Theocritus (1945) Juan Gris, Au soleil du plafond (In the Ceiling Sun). Text by Pierre Reverdy (1955) Le Corbusier, Poème de l’angle droit (Poem of the Right Angle). Text by Le Corbusier (1955) Fernand Léger, La ville (The City) (1959) Greek-born Efstratios Tériade started in publishing as artistic director of the journal Cahiers d’art. By 1937 he had started Verve, his own art magazine. Both under the Verve organization and on his own, Tériade published a series of fine books specializing in large, colorful prints. Les idylles was the first of three collaborations between Tériade and Henri Laurens. Each featured a classical text and wood engravings. This text is a translation of poems by the Greek poet Theocritus. The white lines and terracotta color of Laurens’s wood engravings suggest ancient Greek vase painting. Au soleil du plafond is an example of a project Tériade completed after another publisher had dropped it. The project began in 1916 as a collaboration between Juan Gris and poet Pierre Reverdy: Gris would supply 20 images; Reverdy 20 prose poems. The project was abandoned with only 11 images completed. Much later, after Gris’s death, the original gouaches were discovered and converted to lithographs. Tériade completed the book in 1955, under Reverdy’s supervision. In 1954 Fernand Léger began the lithographs for La ville, a project celebrating his beloved Paris. When the artist died the following year, the lithographs and text remained unfinished. Four years later Tériade issued a portfolio of 29 color lithographs based on the work that Léger had completed.Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, Splendid Pages: The Molly and Walter Bareiss Collection of Modern Illustrated Books, Feb. 14--May 11, 2003

Toledo Museum of Art, Pop Prints from the TMA Collection, Jul. 7 - Oct. 8, 2006.