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An abstract metal sculpture.

The sculpture is of dark metal. Rising from a squat square base the center is pierced by two rounded holes of different sizes. On the left, a branch extends upward, the top is a blunt ended arrow shaped form, more shapes project along the right side are two long thin shapes, and two thick, shorter, pointed forms. A sharp point rises up on the left near the base, a blunted squared off point projects above it.

Gallery Text

While Léger is better known for the dynamic mechanical forms that were the hallmark of his approach to cubist painting, the sinuous biomorphic silhouette of Branch R demonstrates his later engagement with the language of surrealism. This sculpture was designed for Nelson Rockefeller, who had commissioned the artist to paint two murals for his New York apartment in the 1930s. In the murals Léger developed a theme of bucolic industrialism: modern architectural elements juxtaposed with forms derived from trees, aloe plants, and seaweed. He later elaborated these vegetal forms into sculpture, as seen here in the extremities of a bough that appears to undulate like an underwater coral. In these works, Léger shifted his interest from the manufactured object to the organic fragment, which the surrealists identified with primeval forms.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1962.183
People
Fernand Léger, French (Argentan (Orne), France 1881 - 1955 Gif-sur-Yvette, France)
Title
Branch R
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture
Date
c. 1951
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/228241

Location

Location
Level 1, Room 1310, Modern and Contemporary Art, Surrealism
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Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Dimensions
55.2 x 50.8 x 13 cm (21 3/4 x 20 x 5 1/8 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[Fine Arts Associates, New York, New York], sold; to Joseph H. Hazen, New York, New York, gift; to Fogg Art Museum, 1962.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Hazen
Copyright
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Accession Year
1962
Object Number
1962.183
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
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Publication History

  • Caroline A. Jones, Modern Art at Harvard: The Formation of the Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Collections of the Harvard University Art Museums (New York, NY and Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Art Museums and Abbeville Press, 1985). With an essay by John Coolidge and a preface by John M. Rosenfield. To accompany the inaugural exhibition at the Sackler Museum, Oct 21 1985 - Jan 5 1986, p. 67, fig. 59, ill.
  • Kristin A. Mortimer and William G. Klingelhofer, Harvard University Art Museums: A Guide to the Collections, Harvard University Art Museums and Abbeville Press (Cambridge and New York, 1986), no. 153, p. 135, repr.

Exhibition History

  • Modern Art at Harvard, Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, 07/31/1999 - 09/26/1999; Takamatsu City Museum of Art, Kagawa, 10/09/1999 - 11/14/1999; Matsuzakaya Art Museum, Nagoya, 12/02/1999 - 12/27/1999; Oita City Museum, Oita, 01/06/2000 - 02/06/2000; Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki, Ibaraki, 02/11/2000 - 03/26/2000
  • Fernand Léger: Contrasts of Forms, Harvard University Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 04/14/2007 - 06/10/2007
  • 32Q: 1310 Surrealism, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu