Finding Machines

Discussion through works of art encourage how to approach ambiguous and complex ideas, thoughts, and feelings. The MFAH offers a democratic space where students and teachers can develop, practice and articulate these habits of mind. Remember that the quality of the conversation is what is important, not finding the artist’s “answer.” Slow down and take the time to make careful observations. Talk about what you notice, and try to avoid jumping to conclusions and interpretations. Be sure to give enough time for silent looking and thinking.

Work of Art

Pronounce the artist’s name:  Lay – zhay’

 

Man with a Cane is a fragmented view of a figure in a modern interior.  The image of a dapper man is evoked by the green head, the rounded gray shoulder; and the red-sleeved arm on the left holding a ball-headed cane.  The more abstract passages surrounding the figure suggest an impersonal, architectural environment made up of industrial components.  Bright, rich color animates the composition in brilliant syncopation, echoing the new rhythms of the jazz age or Roaring Twinties.

 

Léger’s Man with a Cane shows both his Cubist style and his interest in machines.  Léger takes the figure of a man and the space in which he stands and breaks them down into geometric shapes.  The artist then reassembles these forms into a tightly interlocking composition that appears flat, not three-dimensional.  Note how Léger both balances and enlivens the composition through carefully placed, brightly colored shapes. His image of a man with a cane presents a new vision of man as firmly placed in a modern, mechanized, urban environment.

 

Fernand Léger was born on a farm in Normandy in 1881.   In 1900 he moved to Paris, where he later studied art as the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and worked as an architectural draftsman.  He met Picasso and Braque around 1910, but worked independently, introducing vibrant colors and rounded forms into his lively compositions.

 

Léger’s experience as a soldier at the front in World War I renewed his sympathy for the working class, and also awakened his interest in machines as the primary symbol of the modern age.  He said:

 

It was in a regiment of the Engineer Corps during the War, among rough and worn human beings, that I discovered man.  While I lived there, surrounded by machinery, I felt growing in me an appreciation for the mechanical and dynamic side of modern life….¹

 

Léger sought to create art that was accessible to people from all walks of life.  In combining a Cubist style with elements from the industrial world, Léger created a dynamic, modern style of painting.

 

1. Fernand Léger, “Maitres actuels et peintres de demain,” Arts (Paris: 1935), translated from the French in Fernand Léger, The Figure (New York: 1965).

 

Conversation

• What colors stand out to you in this painting? How would you describe the colors in this painting? What mood do they convey?

• What is the effect of the gray tones and the black and white? Notice how these tones are positioned on the picture plane.

• What different shapes can you distinguish? Do you recognize some representational elements in this painting?

• Do you see mainly flatness, or is there also depth? Which forms and patterns create three-dimensionality? What other tools does the artist use to create perspective?

• The title of this work is Man with a Cane. Can you detect shapes that correspond to parts of the body?

• How has the artist changed the body of the ‘man with a cane’ using geometric shapes? Do the individual body parts make up a whole figure?

• Man with a Cane is a fragmented view of a figure. The image of a man is evoked by the green head, the rounded gray shoulder and the red-sleeved arm on the left holding a ball-headed cane. But there seems to be multiple men and canes. What could the fragmented approach tell us about the artist’s world view?

• How would the figure look if it was less fragmented, more whole? Can you think of other examples of artworks that break down the figure into abstracted shapes? The image of the man reflects the artist’s interest in the modern age and the machine.

• The more abstract passages surrounding the figure suggest an impersonal, architectural environment made up of industrial components.  Do you think the artist was excited about his age and surroundings? Why? What might the color palette tell you?

• Bright, rich color animates the composition and echoes the new rhythms of the jazz age or Roaring Twenties. What other compositional elements point at dynamic movement?

• Léger’s experience as a soldier on the front in World War I renewed his sympathy for the working class. He said: “It was in a regiment of the Engineer Corps during the War, among rough and worn human beings, that I discovered man.  While I lived there, surrounded by machinery, I felt growing in me an appreciation for the mechanical and dynamic side of modern life…” Do you think that art should be accessible to people from all walks of life? Do you find this work easily accessible or is it closely intertwined with its own time? Do we appreciate different elements depending on the context and time in which we view art?

Subject Matter

In the discipline of Social Studies, students need to be able to think conceptually and differentiate between which patterns and ideas are common across societies. Students need to be able to recognize those ideas— whether economic, social, and political—that are not bound by time and place, and how a group’s perspective may affect the historical interpretation of those ideas and principles.

Assessment

As a class, look at and discuss Man with a Cane, noting characteristics that resemble machines. Make a list of these forms together. Look for the representation of the man in the picture. What shapes and colors has Leger used to make the man and the setting look more machine-like? Imagine and discuss how the man might move and talk.

 

Have the students look for and describe examples of simple machines in school—such as a wheel axle, wedge, pulley, inclined plane, and more. What are the shapes of these simple machines? Make a list, and compare it to the list of shapes found in the work of art.

 

Give students marbles, textbooks, and a piece of cardboard (or any other appropriate materials) so that they can try their hands at creating inclined planes. Experiment with varying degrees of incline and discuss its effect on the speed of objects rolled down them.

 

Resources

Resources Available to Order

Check our online collection module for further information.