Mechanical Forms

1921

Meeting van Doesburg and Mondrian

In 1921 Léger meets van Doesburg and Mondrian.

1921

Gance's “La Roue” and Malraux's “Lunes en papier”

In 1921, together with Blaise Cendrars, Léger works on Abel Gance's film “La Roue” and illustrates André Malraux's book “Lunes en papier”. He is so drawn to cinema that he considers for a time giving up painting for filmmaking.

1922–1924

Stage and screen: the Swedish Ballet and “L'Inhumaine”

In 1922 Léger designs sets, costumes and the curtain for “Skating Rink” (music by Milhaud) for Rolf de Maré's Swedish Ballet, and in 1923 for the ballet “La Création du monde” (Milhaud, libretto by Cendrars). In 1923–24 he designs the laboratory set for Marcel L'Herbier's film “L'Inhumaine”.

1924

A free academy with Ozenfant, and the pupil Nadia Khodossevitch

In 1924 Léger, with Amédée Ozenfant, Marie Laurencin and Alexandra Exter, sets up the Académie Moderne, a free school where he teaches. Among its students from 1924 is Nadia Khodossevitch, a cousin of the poet, later Léger's assistant and wife; the Russian article's chronology places the opening of a “Modern Academy” with Ozenfant in 1929.

1924

Through Italy with Rosenberg: Ravenna

In 1924 Léger travels through Italy with Rosenberg and is enraptured by Ravenna. In the same year he gives a lecture at the Sorbonne.

1925–1927

The international decorative arts exhibition and shows in the USA

In 1925–1927 Léger manages, with some difficulty, to exhibit an abstract panel at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts — in Le Corbusier's pavilion and in the Mallet-Stevens pavilion, which shows designs for a French embassy building. His work is shown at the Anderson Galleries in New York, at the Brooklyn Museum and at the Galerie des Quatre Chemins in Paris, and there is a solo retrospective at the Indépendants.