Galerie Hadjer is lending six works to the Musée Henri Matisse in Le Cateau-Cambrésis for the exhibition “Fernand Léger. Corps en fête, monde en couleurs,” on view from 17 October 2026 to 31 January 2027.
Tapestry and ceramics held a particular place in Fernand Léger’s thinking about art and architecture. The scale of a woven work allowed him to compose for an entire wall. In ceramics, a line could follow the curve of a surface and disappear from view as the spectator moved. The works on loan bring these two aspects of his practice together through subjects he returned to throughout his career, from cycling and music to children at play.
Among the Aubusson tapestries, Les Cyclistes takes up one of Léger’s emblematic subjects. The bicycle belonged to the world of popular leisure, and its construction held a fascination of its own. The circle of a wheel echoes the curve of an arm, while the diagonals of the frames set the rhythm of the group. Woven on a scale of more than three metres across, the tapestry gives a familiar scene the presence of a mural.
Les Musiciens recalls Léger’s compositions of the 1930s, in which hands, faces and instruments are drawn into close proximity. Some two decades later, in São Paulo, he gives music a different place in the composition. Three figures raise their arms near the top of the tapestry, while the instruments form a separate cluster below. Broad passages of yellow, red and blue hold the two groups together. Originally conceived for the auditorium of the São Paulo opera house, the design was woven by the Pinton workshops. Together, the tapestries on loan reflect the contributions of Pinton and master weaver Yvette Cauquil-Prince to the interpretation of Léger’s work in wool.
In Le Jardin d’enfants, made with the ceramicist Roland Brice, colour follows the contours of a sculptural form. As the viewer walks around the work, a coloured plane narrows to an edge and another comes into view. Movement, so often a subject for Léger, becomes part of the experience of looking.