The Siesta
Despite Léger’s commitment to the modern machine age, his images of monumental female nudes, languishing in closed interiors, are decidedly old-fashioned. Here, a strangely disjointed nude is shown reclining behind two standing figures. Their skirts blend to form a fluted column, a favorite motif of the Purists, used variously as a building, a drinking glass, or drapery folds. Variations on the same composition dominated Léger’s postwar image making. His precise, uniform modeling and use of a drawing compass and ruler were techniques that denied the individuality of the artist’s hand in favor of standardized application.
Artwork Details
- Title: The Siesta
- Artist: Fernand Léger (French, Argentan 1881–1955 Gif-sur-Yvette)
- Date: 1922
- Medium: Graphite on tan wove paper
- Dimensions: 18 3/4 × 24 3/4 in. (47.6 × 62.9 cm)
- Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection, Gift of Leonard A. Lauder, 2016
- Object Number: 2016.237.9
- Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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