A Skater. Costume design for the ballet Skating Rink
Fernand Léger
French, 1881–1955
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.
Medium
Gouache, ink, and pencil on paper
Dimensions
10 5/8 x 8 1/4" (27.1 x 20.9 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
The Joan and Lester Avnet Collection
Accession
122.1978
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
