 joseph fernand henri lÃ©ger (; february 4, 1881 â august 17, 1955) was a french painter, sculptor, and filmmaker. in his early works he created a personal form of cubism which he gradually modified into a more figurative, populist style. his boldly simplified treatment of modern subject matter has caused him to be regarded as a forerunner of pop art. ==biography== lÃ©ger was born in argentan, orne, lower normandy, where his father raised cattle. fernand lÃ©ger initially trained as an architect from 1897 to 1899, before moving in 1900 to paris, where he supported himself as an architectural draftsman. after military service in versailles, yvelines, in 1902â1903, he enrolled at the school of decorative arts after his application to the Ãcole des beaux-arts was rejected. he nevertheless attended the beaux-arts as a non-enrolled student, spending what he described as "three empty and useless years" studying with gÃ©rÃ´me and others, while also studying at the acadÃ©mie julian.nÃ©ret 1993, p. 35. he began to work seriously as a painter only at the age of 25. at this point his work showed the influence of impressionism, as seen in le jardin de ma mÃ¨re (my mother's garden) of 1905, one of the few paintings from this period that he did not later destroy. a new emphasis on drawing and geometry appeared in lÃ©ger's work after he saw the cÃ©zanne retrospective at the salon d'automne in 1907.nÃ©ret 1993, pp. 35â38. ===1909â1914=== {{multiple image | align = right | direction = horizontal | header = | header_horizontal = left/right/center | header_background = | footer = | footer_align = left/right/center | footer_background = | width = | image1 = fernand lÃ©ger, 1911-1912, les fumeurs (the smokers), oil on canvas, 129.2 x 96.5 cm, solomon r. guggenheim museum, new york..jpg | width1 = 160 | caption1 = les fumeurs (the smokers), 1911-12, oil on canvas, 129.2 x 96.5 cm, solomon r. guggenheim museum, new york | alt1 = a painting of smokers | image2 = fernand lÃ©ger, woman in blue, femme en bleu, 1912, oil on canvas, 193 x 129.9 cm.jpg | width2 = 147 | caption2 = la femme en bleu (woman in blue)
1881_births 1955_deaths 19th-century_French_painters 20th-century_French_painters Alumni_of_the_AcadA(c)mie_Julian Ballet_designers Cubist_artists French_film_directors French_military_personnel_of_World_War_I Modern_painters Orphism People_from_Argentan Purism