A Skater. Costume design for the ballet Skating Rink

Fernand Léger

1924

A costume design for the ballet Skating Rink by Fernand Léger, rendered in gouache, ink, and pencil, in which the artist experiments with translating his bold, machine-age geometry and bright primary colors into a wearable stage persona.

You’re struck by the flat, interlocking blocks of black, yellow, and red set against delicate pencil outlines—the figure reads as both decorative and mechanical, with rhythmic black strokes suggesting movement and theatrical flair.

This work shows Léger’s 1920s project of bringing modernist abstraction into performance, blurring the line between fine art and stagecraft and influencing how artists approached costume and set design.

Palette

Exhibitions

Fernand Léger: Paintings and Drawings

1935

Fernand Léger in the Museum Collection

1960

Seurat to Matisse: Drawing in France

1974

Works from the Museum Collection of Dance and Theatre Design

1945