Straddling a bicycle, a sturdy woman stands still. One foot rests on the right pedal, the other on the ground. On the bicycle’s back sits her child, a young boy. Their colorful leotards identify the pair as circus performers. Beginning in the late 1930s, Léger’s paintings became animated by merry workers and construction crews as well as sportsmen: acrobats, swimmers, gymnasts, and bicyclists. Here, he reprised the motif— mother and child with bicycle—from the right-hand side of his earlier large horizontal painting Leisure Time: Homage to Louis David (1948–49; Musée d’Art Moderne Paris).
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Inscription: Signed and dated (lower right): F.LÉGER / 51; signed, dated, and inscribed (verso): F. LEGER / 51 / Hommage a / DAViD/ (FRAGMENT/ de Droite)
the artist, Gif-sur-Yvette (until d. 1955; his estate, 1955–60, no. 296); Musée Fernand Léger, Biot (from 1960); [Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris, by 1964–at least 1968; stock no. 010366]; [Saidenberg Gallery, New York]; Private collection, Tokyo; [Marlborough Gallery, Inc., New York, in 1986; stock no. 25.916]; [Perls Galleries (Mr. and Mrs. Klaus Perls), New York, by 1987–97; stock no. 13643; gift to MMA]
Nice. Palais de la Méditerranée. "Peintres à Nice et sur la Côte d'Azur, 1860–1960," July–September 1960, no. 77 (as "Fragment des loisirs [Hommage à David]," lent by Musée Fernand Léger, Biot).
Kassel. Museum Fridericianum. "Documenta III: Internationale Ausstellung," June 27–October 5, 1964, no. 5 (as "Hommage à David," lent by Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris).
New York. Chalette. "Fernand Léger: The Figure," April 1965, no. 23 (as "Homage to David").
Bremen. Michael Hertz. "Fernand Léger: Werke aus den Jahren 1909 bis 1955," mid-February–April 30, 1966, no. 18 (as "Hommage à David [Fragment de droite]").
Chicago. International Galleries. "Fernand Léger, 1881–1955: Retrospective Exhibition," November–December 1966, no. 49 (as "Homage to David").
Tel Aviv Museum of Art. "Fernand Léger, 1881–1955," April–May 1967, no. 30 (as "Hommage à David," lent by Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris).
Vienna. Museum des 20.Jahrhunderts. "Fernand Léger," April 26–June 9, 1968, no. 56 (as "Hommage à David," lent by Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris).
New York. Perls Galleries. "Fernand Léger (1881–1955): Oil Paintings," November 12–December 21, 1968, no. 28 (as "Hommage à David").
New York. Marlborough Gallery. "Masters of the 19th and 20th Centuries," November 5–December 2, 1986, no. 24 (as "Hommage à David").
London. Whitechapel Gallery. "Fernand Léger: The Later Years," November 27, 1987–February 21, 1988, no. 44 (as "Hommage à Louis David [fragment]," lent by Perls Galleries, New York).
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart. "Fernand Léger: Zeichnungen, Bilder, Zyklen, 1930–1955," March 26–June 19, 1988, no. 75 (as "Hommage à Louis David [Fragment]," lent by Perls Galleries, New York).
Pierre Descargues. Fernand Léger. Paris, 1955, ill. p. 129 (color), as "La Mère et l'enfant".
Gaëtan Picon. "Le Musée Léger à Biot." Cahiers d'art 33–35 (1960), ill. p. 199 (installation photo).
Werner Haftmann. Malerei im 20.Jahrhundert: Eine Bild-Enzyklopädie. Munich, 1965, p. 410, fig. 444, as "Studie zu Hommage à David," in the collection of the Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris.
William Berkson. "In the Galleries: Fernand Léger." Arts Magazine 39 (September/October 1965), pp. 62–63, ill.
Michèle Richet with Claude Laugier inFernand Léger. Exh. cat., Grand Palais. Paris, 1971, p. 27, under no. 152.
Claude Laugier and Michèle Richet. Léger: Œuvres de Fernand Léger (1881–1955). Paris, 1981, p. 95, fig. k, call it "Hommage à David," in an unknown collection; note that Léger reprised the right-hand side of "Les Loisirs (Hommage à Louis David)" (1948–49; Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris; Bauquier 2000, no. 1311) in this picture and a version in the Fondation Beyeler, Basel (1951; Bauquier 2003, no. 1425).
Peter de Francia. "London: Léger at the Whitechapel." Burlington Magazine 130 (February 1988), p. 153, fig. 85 (color).
Paul Overy. "Fernand Léger: A New Realism." Studio International 201 (July 1988), pp. 14–15, ill., as "Hommage à David".
J[ason]. E[dward]. K[aufman]. "Perls Adds Gems to the Met." Art Newspaper no. 61 (July–August 1996), p. 14.
Georges Bauquier, with the collaboration of Irus Hansma, Claude Lefebvre du Preÿ, and Nelly Maillard. Fernand Léger: Catalogue raisonné. Vol. 8, 1949–1951. Paris, 2003, pp. 184–85, no. 1424, ill. (color), calls it "Les Loisirs (Hommage à David), fragment de droite"; erroneously locates it as still in a private collection, Tokyo.
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