Plate (page 39) from Cirque (Circus)
Fernand Léger
French, 1881–1955
1950
A color lithograph from Léger’s illustrated book Cirque (1950) that condenses circus movement into flat, simplified shapes—hands, legs, birds and a ring—using the immediacy of print to capture playful spectacle.
Thick black contours seize attention first, pinning bright yellow limbs and white birds against a bold purple wash so the overlapping forms read like a rhythmic, decorative collage that flattens space.
It exemplifies Léger’s late-career move toward bold, folk‑inflected imagery and his use of color lithography to translate modernist painting into widely reproducible, graphic works that bridged fine art and popular visual culture.
Medium
One from an illustrated book with eighty-three lithographs (including wrapper front and back)
Dimensions
composition (irreg.): 12 1/4 × 7 15/16" (31.1 × 20.2 cm); page (each approx.): 16 5/8 × 12 11/16" (42.3 × 32.3 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
The Louis E. Stern Collection
Accession
890.1964.34
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
