Remarkable for its grand size, vibrant color, and delightfully intriguing compositional elements, this is a rare and wonderful example of Léger's creative and dynamic style in the ceramic medium.

Created in c. 1952-1954 and cast at a later date, this fantastic Fernand Léger Le jardin d'enfants (The Children's Garden, or Kindergarten) ceramic sculpture is from the very rare and limited edition of only eight. The piece is numbered 6/8 in black on the right side of the base, and signed 'F. Leger' in black, also on the right side of the base.

This work is published in Y. Brunhammer, Fernand Léger: The Monumental Art, Milan 2005, illustrated on page 164. THE ILLUSTRATED CAST SHOWN HERE IS THE ACTUALLY CAST WE ARE SELLING.

Brilliant shades of red, yellow, orange, and green define this image creating a lustrous jeweled aesthetic. Exhibiting Léger's mature style, the Children's Garden is wonderfully expressive and infused with an exuberant sense of curiosity and imagination. The three-dimensional elements are perfectly balanced and create complex interactions through the use of shape, color, and environment. The magical garden possesses a sense of self contained energy that invites us to enter into this bright and colorful world, while simultaneously emitting a mild caution that adventurers who enter, may not want to leave. Just as we interact with the sculpture, there is also the dynamic interaction between the ceramic and its environment. The upright elements merge with their environment, radiating their innate energy into the room. This work is in overall great condition-glaze remains bright and fresh with a few very minor chips to the glaze on some of the standing elements, and conservation to these elements that does not interfere with the image or overall composition.

Léger scholar Yvonne Brunhammer wrote of Leger's ceramic sculpture:

"Léger's ceramics are the tranquil assertion of the exuberance of life. Their healthy coloring, the weight of their flesh, their tactile qualities, their orderliness, the confidence that emanates from them, all that makes us see them as real objects d'art that have a beneficial utility in the time and space allotted us."

Provenance:

Private Collection, London

Private Collection, Monaco

Catalogue Raisonné & COA:

Fernand Léger Le jardin d'enfants (The Children's Garden, or Kindergarten) is fully documented and referenced in (copies will be enclosed as added documentation with the invoices that I will accompany the final sale of the work) :

1) deFrancia, Fernand Leger, new Yaven, 1983, monumental version illustrated as plate 58.

2) Y. Brunhammer, Fernand Leger: The Monumental Art, Milan 2005, illustrated on page 164 (THE illustrated cast shown here IS the actually cast we are selling) .

3) Masterworks Fine Art, Inc. Certificate of Authenticity accompanies this work.