Reading comprehension 7

The work I chose from the work and commerce section of the “Greensboro Collects” exhibit was “Les Constructeurs” (the builders) by Fernard Leger, 1955. When I read 1955 as the year I immediately thought of music, especially jazz, blues, and swing alike. As both an artist and a musician I am often able to recall a song that a piece of art brings to mind, kind of like a theme song in a movie. For this particular work I could almost match a rhythm to the repeating lines, or a jazz riff to the free form lines in the background. This brought me to the renewals and riffs portion of the explorations unit. Perhaps this work is looking back at Egyptian wall carvings, while also looking forward in its resemblance to the work of Picasso. Thus creating a riff portraying ideas anew at mid century. Both the Egyptians and Picasso had a way of flattening their subjects. The Egyptians did it by orienting each part in the view from which it could be best understood. Picasso on the other hand, along with other cubist artists, flattened simply as a form of abstraction; portraying their subject as if a heavy object had squished it. This painting does a good job of combining these two ideas while keeping the subject clear. The work looks backward for its method of portrayal, but is of a modern subject. This idea of a modern painting being a riff on the past is interesting because Harwood clearly states that Modernism strove to eliminate such influences. “For the most part Modernism strives to design for the present and eliminate most traditions, forms and elements of the past, rejecting historicism, the academic tradition, and the idea of style (Harwood p.613).” Harwood also speaks of the methods these artists/designers used to accomplish this goal. “Striving to avoid style, designers emphasize asymmetry, straight lines and rectangles, and flat plains. Parts are arranged in a series of geometric shapes and forms usually with linear elements (Harwood p.592).” All of which can be seen in both my diagram and the original work by Leger.

“Les Constructeurs” portrays two construction workers building a skyscraper. The subject reflects Modernism at mid century because the improvement upon iron, glass, and steel, during this time allowed allowed buildings to move upward in addition to horizontally. This theme of construction can also be seen in Abraham Walkowitz’s “Man with a Shovel/Worker”, 1904.

Similarities can also be drawn between these two works in the way their figures are portrayed. There is a clear emphasis on the hands, arms, and legs. The heads of the figures are also small proportionally to the rest of the body. The type of rendering also has a relative roundness to it. Perhaps this emphasis is the artist’s way of protesting or praising the work of the builders. Art, I have found, is never purely for arts sake. Matthew Nowicki also called for a similar change in his essays “Composition in Modern Architecture,”” In the overwhelming majority of modern design form follows form, and not function.” Art is a portrayal of an individual’s understanding of the world around them. Ergo, opinion, emotion, and feeling are also part of the mix. There for, these pieces were done in reaction to the change in times. Reverberations of both a similar style of rendering, and opinions upon the subject are present as well.